Dealing with Anger

"In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."  Ephesians 4:26-27

A friend of mine was recently caught in the middle of drama.  We'll call this friend Jim.  Sally told Billy a lie about Jim.    As a result, Billy is now mad at and not really speaking to Jim.  For the moment, this lie has wrecked that relationship.

Jim and I talked about it for a while and he finally asked, "Is it okay that I'm mad?  Is it wrong for me to be angry about this?"

The Nudge Method

As a youth pastor, I work with a lot of kids and teens.  When I notice a problem or fault or mistake of one of the kids, there are different ways to approach the problem.  You can just tell the kid what they did wrong and how to fix it.  You can just ignore it and let it slide.  One tactic I like is, for lack of a better title, the Nudge Method.

Rescue Them

Check out this devotional from Dare2Share Ministries.  It challenged me to reach the lost God has placed in my life.  Click the link below.

Rescue Them

^ That one.  Click it.

Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse died last Saturday.  For those of you who don't know, Winehouse was a very successful music artist who won five Grammys from one album alone.  She died at the age of 27.

Ephesians 1:1-2 Dear Ephesians...

I'm going to be going through the book of Ephesians on Mondays.  I'm going to only do a couple of verses at a time and it may look more like a commentary than a devotional.  Hopefully, it will be a mix of both.  This might be more of a study type thing for anyone who reads it than a pure devotional, but if that's what you're looking for then you can find it here on Mondays.

Ephesians 1:1


Paul an apostle


Paul introduces himself here as the author of the letter to the Ephesians.  He also identifies himself here as an apostle of Christ Jesus.  The word apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos which has the meaning of a delegate or envoy or a "sent out one".  The title means that Paul has been sent out and commissioned by Jesus.  Paul can say this because the resurrected Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and called him.

Get Both Sides of the Story First

Passage: Proverbs 18:17 "The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him."

As a pastor, I've had to work out my fair share of disputes and disagreements between people.  I've heard the usual stories.   "Pastor Mark, Sally said BLANK to me."  "Jimmy just hit Bobby and Bobby wasn't doing anything wrong Pastor Mark"  Some have been more serious than that, but whatever the case, the funniest thing happens.  If I'm not careful, whoever talks to me first gets me on their side from the start.  Its funny what hearing only half of the story can convince you of.

My favorite example of this comes from Pastor Mark Driscoll.

God-X Teens & Parents Only

A conference for youth has been brought to my attention.  Check out this video and let me know if you would be interesting in attending it!  Vote on the right side of the blog in the poll section!

P.S. If you are looking for the devo, scroll down ;-)

Do you lack sense?

Passage: Proverbs 11:12-13  "Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.  Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered."

I caught myself putting someone down behind their back the other day.  It wasn't anything too awful, I didn't reveal anyone's darkest secret.  But I spoke poorly of them and it was entirely unnecessary.  I wasn't talking to that person's mentor or pastor in an effort to lovingly help them.  I was talking to a mutual friend and this acid came out of my mouth.

The New Rebecca Black?

Check out this devotional from Dare 2 Share Youth Ministries.

How to start again

I'll be writing my own devos on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.  Days like today I try to find good ones elsewhere.

If God forgives, why is there a Hell? Why not just let everyone into heaven?

Somebody sent me a text message today that asked that question.  It's a great question isn't it?  People don't like the concept of Hell.  Some people think God must be unloving to allow Hell to exist.  To be honest, I kind of don't like the thought of Hell.  A place of everlasting torment is not something that I would wish upon anyone... not even Hitler.  But there it is.  Hell.  If you don't believe in Hell, you can't believe in the Bible and you definitely can't believe in Jesus who speaks about Hell more than any other person in the Bible.  So what do you say about Hell?

I don't have all of the answers and after reading this, I don't think you will feel good about Hell.  I don't think we are ever supposed to feel good about Hell.  But there are some things I think we need to keep in mind about Hell.  I hope this helps as you think through the intense truth that while there is an eternal paradise in heaven there is also an eternal place of suffering that many people will endure forever.