Does God care about baby poop?

So most of you know I have a 4 month old a home. He became ill and fussy. Nothing could console him. He hadn't pooped in 4 days and not a full poop in 2 weeks. Pediatrician had us giving prune juice and his mother taking probiotics to pass thru milk to him. Still he was miserable. No longer our happy baby.

As I held him praying I found myself asking God to touch his little body and let him poop as designed.

Then as I did so I found myself thinking. What an odd prayer! Does God care about poop? Can you even ask for that?

"The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him." (Psalms 103:13, NLT)

The father wants to know and cares about what bothers or hurts his children. So yes God cares even about baby poop. And just to prove he does he answered my prayer and we have a happy baby again.

Problems persist despite all our methods until we call out to God. There is nothing we cannot take to him.





- MZG

the next batch of screwed up people

Often I am reminded of a past that would disqualify me. I have years and years of my life that drink and pills have stolen. I don't know what happened for so many of them. I don't know what was said or done. I do know they were nothing to brag about. I know I was a liar, a violent person, unloving, and judgmental.

As I sit here at almost midnight typing on my phone after finishing reading 1 Corinthians chapter 1-5, it hit me what a past Paul had.

Yet here he is trying to right the ship for the church at Corinth. Acting as a father would. Having kids myself I want better for them than I was. I think God saves some of us from our past so in the future we can have the understanding for the next batch of screwed up people.

I can say that much like Paul the man I was is no more. Only what I do for God will matter. Only God matters.




- MZG

Why I dislike Hillsong NYC..... and why that is an issue

Hillsong NYC, can you believe these guys, do I know a lot about their theology?  No

Do I know how many people are having life changing eternal moments?  No

Did I bother to find out?  No

Don't need to, they have lights and smoke, confetti and rock show tactics, everyday is a party........blasphemy I scream.....and you know its all staged, they plan the events and have people in charge of creating excitement. They are a night club of a church (keep reading)

Just Look!!

Can you believe this????

Can you believe this, these people plan a party weekly, they plan to be excited about Jesus. They place a desire on extravagant worship, regardless of style they really want to do it right. They dare to provide a image of a Christian excited about God.

wait..... when you say it like that...... maybe its not such a bad thing....

See I saw these pictures, and I thought judgmental thoughts, as many people do. But God asked me one question "am I not worth preparing a celebration for?" 

I have been so convicted by this, I have decided ever church should throw a party, if we are honest, he is worth it, and its not about you or me, its all about Jesus!!

Thank you Hillsong NYC, God Bless

What I have learned in seminary

What I have learned in seminary thus far:
1. I have poor sentence construction
2. I have a pastoring heart which leads me to believe the Bible as fact; this does not bode well for my scores in writing academic papers.
3. I now know what exegetical means, but no one cares.
4. Footnotes are just a way of killing trees and unless you’re a professor no one uses them.
5. No one in school is excited about school.
 6. You will not use half the books you buy.

Here is what I have learned (not in seminary) that is of value. I learned this from living daily what I believe.
1. Jesus is awesome, and no one learns that from good sentence structure, they learn that from experience and excitement.
2. Knowing the historical accuracies of the Old Testament will never convince a person like a heartfelt testimony. Be honest and share what God has done for you.
3. Discipleship and Mentoring is biblically the way to educate people, make sure you are plugged in where this is happening. A degree is just a piece of paper.
4. The only book you need is a Bible.
5. Love cannot be taught.
6. Grace does not require a student loan.

 Hope this helps someone.

Every person needs a creed.

Every person needs a creed or statement of beliefs to fall back on, here is mine and a worksheet to help you develop your own. 

Personal Creed: Statement of Beliefs

            I am a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. I believe in God in three parts, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. I believe all that is good is created by God. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that the Son was sent to be born of a virgin and to live and walk among us, in a sinless state. Jesus died on a cross, a sacrifice to the Father for our sins. I believe that after three days Jesus rose again and walked among us. That Jesus then ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the one who Jesus said the Father would send to comfort us, and so that we may do even greater things for the Father’s Kingdom. I believe that the Holy Spirit’s primary purpose is to create within the believer the boldness to testify about the Father and the Son. I believe that the greatest way that we will be known as a disciple of Jesus is that we share love on for another.

I will be an earthly representation of the Father to my children and community. I will represent the bride groom in my marriage. I seek to always be Jesus to all I come into contact with.

Denominations are a division created by man inside the church of Jesus, I believe in one congregation of the redeemed as the bride of Christ. I believe that it is the will of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit that division inside the church be laid aside, for the discipleship of the nonbeliever.

I am a man of God placed upon the earth to be a servant for the Kingdom, to perform my tasks as instructed by the scripture and the Holy Spirit. This is so that the Father may be glorified through me his son, and that Jesus my Lord and Savior will be glorified and welcome in the family of God as a brother. As a servant of the Kingdom I will sacrifice selfish thoughts, desires, and beliefs and replace them with those of the spirit. As a servant of the Kingdom I will fight daily over the struggles of flesh until the time that Jesus greets me upon my death, giving me a heavenly body that will not have temptations of the flesh. I believe that the chief end of man is to glorify God. I believe my actions must daily prove that my heart’s desire is to glorify God through the loving attitude of a faithful servant!

Creed Development Worksheet

Who is God?
Who is God to me?
Who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus to me?
What beliefs will shape my daily actions?
Who does God want me to be to my family?
Who does God want me to be to my friends?
Who does God want me to be to my community?
What is my purpose here on earth?

1)      

Servant > Super Hero

Servant

Gods plan for all men begin and ends with creating and generating the heart of a servant. The problem for most of us is that we have been raised in a society that says look out for number one, and foolishly mislead us to believe that number one is “us”. It has been said that there is truth in every lie and that is what makes the lie believable. In this case the deceiver has used a truth, “look out for number one” and added that we are number one. When we buy in to that lie we commit the sin of self-idolatry, violating both the first and second commandments.

Exodus 20:3-4 (HCSB)

³ Do not have other gods besides Me.
⁴ Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.

I am a huge fan of historical heroes. People that know me know that I love Elvis, who we all know was the undisputed king of rock and roll. The expression used when quoting things he did or said is simple “good enough for the king, good enough for me”. This has never been truer when applied to our lives as Christians, Jesus our Lord and King came to us to serve and if it is good enough for my Savior it is good enough for me.

Mark 10:42-45 (HCSB)

⁴² Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high positions exercise power over them. ⁴³ But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

I would like to take you through the revelations that the Lord has shown me about the act of servant hood. The two things that the Lord has laid on my heart through this study is that he needs men to be the men that he intended for them to be, and that that we must understand that we can never be that without the heart of the servant and the hands of the servant. By this I mean to make clear that we develop and understand the mindset of the servant and then live the actions of the servant. This mindset is hard to follow sometimes because we have a misrepresentation of the servant. We think of Egor following around the doctor in the story of Frankenstein, or we think of the Gollum, the creepy guy that follows around Frodo, or perhaps we even think of Dobby from Harry Potter. Or let us face it we often think of slavery and we create a very distasteful picture of servitude.

            Let me paint a picture for you of another type of servant. I was fascinated by Batman when I was younger. If you are fans then you know that Alfred the butler had a servant role, he served faithfully, assisted the hero, and was a trusted companion. You also know if you follow the movies that he was also the one who inherited the wealth of Batman. If you have never heard of Batman then bear with me as I try to draw you back in. Remove from you heart all preconceived notions about what and who a servant is. No really, stop thinking you know already and don’t need to hear this, I believe that the time has come we understand God’s role for his servants.

3 things someone needs to hear

    This week 3 things have crossed my plate that I will share my thoughts on, take them for what they are worth. I share in the hopes that someone will realize what I have. Most of the things we have to complain about are of our own making. See below:

     I hear people say a lot of the time that we have taken God from schools. If we have then it is only because as parents we have not taught our kids about God. There is nothing that prevents your seven year old from saying the blessing before eating his meal. Perhaps the issue is that they don’t see that at home.

     I hear scholars and teachers talk about how pastors do not preach the name of Jesus and about the blood. They can’t believe that so many churches are in decline, it must be because they don’t preach Jesus. However that is how we train pastors. I just finished a paper where I was told to write about sin and atonement, but not from a Christological point of view. That’s right, seminary student, paper on sin and atonement, told to leave Jesus out because we are focusing on the Old Testament. The whole bible is about Jesus, it’s all about Jesus, if we taught that, then maybe churches would be full.

     People will say that the church needs to do this or that, but then complain when they try to raise funds. Statistics show that as an average people only tithe 4%. So here is my thought, before you bad mouth a church for a service they don’t provide that you think they should, first determine if you have given you tithe. Typical those that complain the loudest give the least, they have a spirit of entitlement.

How big is God?

I was recently having a discussion with a fellow Christian who was going to tell her Sunday school class she teaches that they needed to get rid of their bibles. She read online that there were 337 differences between the King James and these other translations. She said they should have the oldest and most accurate version. She was even willing to buy them bibles. 

Now I don't wanna start the argument about which version is best. What I want to ask is what I asked her. Do you believe God is big enough to overcome human error? If someone makes a mistake in translation or even teaching, can God overcome that?

I am not talking about intentional misrepresentation. We all know that is wrong. But what about a mistake. Perhaps you quote a verse wrong. Leave out a word while sharing the Gospel. Can God overcome that?

I will say that I believe He is. He was in the business of reconciling people to him before we had the bible. He still saves people who don't have bibles in there language and can't read the word. People have been saved thru videos like the Jesus film YWAM has been backpacking in remote areas around the globe for years. 

I told her my advice was to tell her class the only bible that matters is the one you read. A wore out cover is more important than the version inside of it. God is bigger than translations. 

Someone needs to say it....what about the 3,000?

I do not know whether you love or hate Mark Driscoll and Marshill church. This is not to weigh in one way or the other.

I just read in an article this statement:

“We’ve basically found ourselves in a tough financial position,” Dean said. “We started the year the strongest we’ve ever been, but since then we’ve seen a decline in attendance and giving, and we saw a steep decline over the last two months.” posted on thestate.com under an article entitled, Mars Hill megachurch closing branches and planning layoffs, amid Mark Driscoll leadership issues

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/09/09/3669748/mars-hill-megachurch-closing-branches.html?sp=/99/132/#storylink=cpy

This is in regards to the need to close 3 campuses, and lay of a third of all staff. What we here is the financial impact, that is not the thought I had.....

This is the thought that I had, Wow....... in this article it states the church has dropped by over 3,000 people a week in attendance. And I am sure some of the reasons are the issues around the pastor, but some are also that people are just turned off at the way the church as a whole loves to berate their own. After seeing how we behave, how we react, how we condemn, why would they want to be a part of that. How many people now will never meet Jesus becuase of all these foolish actions?

And I ask this question, who will be held accountable for this? Would Jesus be concerned over the financial impact or the people? When 3,000 people stop showing up to worship God because of anyone's behavior I think it hurt the heart of Jesus, after all it was Jesus that said.

John 13:34-35  

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

So I ask, did we show love? Please pray with me for those 3,000 people that now are not in church, may God help direct them to a church home.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/09/09/3669748/mars-hill-megachurch-closing-branches.html?sp=/99/132/#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/09/09/3669748/mars-hill-megachurch-closing-branches.html?sp=/99/132/#storylink=cpy

What dirty diapers are teaching me about God!

Before I begin, every time I sit down to start to type one of these there is a inner monologue that occurs, and strangely enough it reminds me of Doogie Howser. (for those of you under 30, wiki it)

......Dirty diapers and God...........

Seems odd but allow me to explain. We recently had a little baby boy. I love him very much, and his mother does too. He is 4 weeks old and screams and poops A LOT.

I can change his diaper and it is an ordeal, his mother does it and it is a smooth transaction. He knows I don't want to do it I think and for some reason she does not mind it. There is something about the nature of the person that he can recognize.

When he cries, I can bouce him, rock him, sing to him, and yes................even pray for him to stop crying (I am sure I am not the only Dad that has been there). But she can pick him up and immediately he stops crying. The touch of his mother gives him a peace, a familiarity with her that started all the way back at conception links them, and her presence consoles his cares.

Like my child my life is often full of "poop", and I know that at times other and even myself don't want to deal with it. God however always seems to be there ready to help get me cleaned up once again.

Just like my child when nothing else can console me, God's presence can give me peace. I know he will make things OK or be there until they are. It is based on the fact that way back at the point of salvation God started this for me.

So I have been thinking on the fact that God demonstrates how he works in all things. I got a glimpse at how God loves me by watching my wife change a dirty diaper. We must be open for God to show us, but he is always teaching us.

So I will leave you with this, when was the last time you cried out to the Father God

Psalm 116:1-6The Message (MSG)

 I love God because he listened to me,
    listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
    as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
    hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn;
    then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
    “Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
    our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
    when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.

Continual Baggage of Sexual Sin

Grace, thank God for grace, sins are forgiven.

The danger of sin is that while the sin can be forgiven the consequences can last a life time. I know what you are saying, I did not murder someone and end up with life in jail. It was just a little sexual activity as a teen or young adult with an ex, God forgave me so no harm, its all good.

I could go on and on....... but for the sake of time and because I am a lousy typist we will stop there. When we have stepped out of the will of God and committed a sin such as sexual immorality, the sin is forgiven but we cannot undo the action.There will be times that you will be with the the wife years down the road and play the comparison game, you will remember things from the past and let them affect the future.

Sometimes the consequence of sin is the fact that cannot forget all that occurred. Premarital sexual sin is just as damaging as infidelity during a marriage from the consequence of comparison.

We are often tempted to say that under grace all is good, and it is true that there is no condemnation for those of use under the blood of Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). But do not think for a moment that actions do not carry with them consequences, and in the case of sexual sins they can create a door way for new sinful thoughts and actions.

Be honest about this with those you teach and disciple so that they will understand the dangers that even forgiven sins pose.

Punching someone for Jesus

     Here is a statement that will throw you guys for a loop; I believe that we need more people willing to punch someone for Jesus. I would go as far as to say that we need more MEN to punch people for Jesus……..if you’re still reading, I will tell you why….
 
     I often say I feel like “Punching someone for Jesus” and it is true. This is not a new statement or something that I have come up with on my own, I actually heard Peter Haas say it, and if memory serves he may have even placed in his book.

     Men will argue until they are blue in the face over brand of truck, fastest muscle car, best motorcycle, or sport team. Even to the point of potentially punching each other. However this never occurs when God is involved, we never will takes such a visual stance before the world.

     Picture two men, one is working on a fence, attempting to put it up on the other guys property. The first guy tries to get the other to stop. They are in disagreement and they discuss, argue, maybe even call each other names, they get loud. What fascinates me is that the passion, anger, urgency, and emotions build up in them and after they have tried everything else, and one of them punches the other. They are willing to go as far as needed.

     Now change scenes, we have two men in a group at church, the one man is sowing discourse and even saying things that are biblically unsound and undermining church leadership. As a good “church guy” the first guy will allow this to continue because………. We have taught it’s not his place to judge, everyone’s opinion is valid, and after all we must be tolerant. So no real confrontation occurs………I am not saying that “church guy” should have clocked his fellow member, but I am saying there should have been a passion, a righteous anger, the emotion should have resulted in an action.

     Outside the church when the society tells us we must be tolerant of everyone, we need to say no. We must love everyone and that is different, sometimes love comes in the form of action that says “your wrong”, even if that makes the person feel as if you have just “punched” them.

     Read Genesis 32 and 35 and see how men use their resources to do what God has called them to, watch how places of God are created and honored, see how men defend their family, and how God protects those who act on what he has told them to do. These actions included talking, contracts, trading and gifts, and even violence when needed.

     Read about how Moses stood before the king of Egypt and said “God says…” or Elijah as he walks into the king’s court and stops the rain. Basically we have one man of God willing to “punch” a king.

     While I would hope we can resolve things in a way in which never lead to violence. I would pray that should we find ourselves in the situation Lot found himself in during Genesis 19, where in order to appease the evil of the community he was willing to give his daughters up to be raped. Thank goodness there were angels there will to act, and it says they “struck” the would be attackers, making them blind.

     I hope something as silly as the phrase “punch people for Jesus” remind us that we are to be a people of action.