jon mark

so this past sunday i taught on stewardship…i went through three different lesson plans…multiple ideas of what it was i needed to say…multiple videos or visuals to use to assist in getting the point across…but in the end i went through my outline for the most part, but had to throw out quite a few things…in the end i know that God was glorified because i presented His word and the truth to all of those who were there…and i gave it everything i had…

the point of this post is back to stewardship, which i talked about a little bit last week while i was preparing…but the focus is on one thing we are stewards of, that you really don’t think about when you hear the term stewardship…KNOWLEDGE!!!

each and every one of us has knowledge that is unique…i have knowledge of things here at my place of employment or in my family, that you don’t have…and visa versa…and i’m mainly thinking of co-workers and what is going on in their lives…the needs that they may have…i can not meet needs or pray for people or minister to them in any way, if i don’t know them or have knowledge of their needs…but you can…

we are to be stewards of that knowledge and meet the needs that we are aware of…we need to minister to the people that we know need ministering too… are we being good stewards of this knowledge???

not only that, i really hit on knowledge of scripture sunday night and specifically the knowledge of the GOOD NEWS…knowledge of the fact that we are in need of a Savior due to sin in our lives…Christ came to earth, suffered, bled, and died to pay the penalty for that sin and to allow us to have a personal relationship with Him and with His Father…not only that…this relationship is available to all who will believe…

what are we doing with this knowledge??? do we believe??? are we sharing it with others, specifically those who we know are still in need??? are we being good stewards of this knowledge???

stewardship…knowledge

so i have to say that i am more than happy right at this moment…it’s friday night,7:30pm…i’m out on my back deck with kasey and molly…both vehicles are washed…garage is cleaned out and swept…i have a Starbucks mug full of coffee to my right…and it’s still 74 degrees outside!!! so i decided to type a little bit of nothing on here before bath time comes…

after dinner tonight i pulled both vehicles out into the driveway…kasey laid a quilt out on the front lawn…and we washed cars while molly played on the quilt…one of the neighbors had to stop by to see how big molly was and comment on how time flies…grandpa had to call in and tell us about the bottle recall on the news…he also had to warn me about letting molly play in the yard because we have it treated with chemicals…and wow, the neighbor guy just came out bearing all but what was covered by his red cotton shorts, didn’t need that one!!!

but the point of what i’m typing is how molly played on the quilt…at first she was stiff as a board in the middle of the quilt…then as she became more comfortable with her surroundings she moved closer to the edge…then as she started to place her hand on the grass…big frown and tears…she didn’t like the grass at all(so we’re safe for now grandpa)…she would go back to playing and then a little bit later she would go right back to the edge and do it all over again…did she forget her dislike for the grass???

my twisted mind thought how similar that is to her father…as well as many others i suppose…there are things in life that we are tempted to draw near to or take part in…we may even take that first step or first taste or first look…but then we realize it’s not for us and we return back to the safety of what God has for us in life…after a while we head right on back to that same edge, or maybe even a different edge…but we have that same realization all over again…did we forget the consequences??? did we forget the feelings of guilt???

when we live in the freedom that God gives us…inside of His will…we have…life abundantly!!! we can laugh and play and enjoy life, just like molly did on that guilt…she was yelling and singing and having a good time…until she went to that edge…

tonight have been an amazing start to my weekend…i feel extremely blessed, spoiled, and privileged to have…

life abundantly!!!

so, lastnight i was sitting at the table and our cat walks in (some of you thought the title was referring to myself in the title…not this time…) we have this awesome cat who weighed 18 pounds last year when we took him to the vet in july…i’m guessing 20 now??? his name is oliver and he has a great story…

one day some of the folks at work were out on a smoke break and heard an animal crying in the bushes (i work downtown)…here is this little kitten about 5 or 6 inches long, white with black markings all over him…no one wanted him so i took him home and thought that if kasey didn’t want a pet, i could always take him out to my grandparents farm to live with the barn cats…but he was shoe-in very cute…the first night he jumped in our fireplace to hide and came out all black…

now three years later…he’s pushing 20 pounds and living a life of luxury…we have several nicknames for him, but the most popular is fatboy…he has this pouch that hangs down as he struts around the house…it grows closer to the ground with each passing day…pretty much all he does is eat and lay around…we don’t feed him table scraps and really don’t feed him much in his dish…but he continues to grow fatter…

why??? NO EXERCISE!!!

i have really  been challenged in the series at church…there are too many fatboys and fatgirls sitting in church today!!! it is too easy to just show up at church each week…take in the message and the music…maybe even pick up a bible and read it during the week…maybe even pray every so often…but then we don’t put into practice what it is that we hear and read…we just grow fatter!!!

i’ve been challenged this week, in my teaching, to give people practical examples of how we can all put things in scripture, into action…how we can exercise our faith…seeing a need around us and meeting it…someone needing prayer and praying for them…exercising our faith…

have you exercised today??? if not DO IT!!! or you might end up like this guy i’m holding…

so, i’m preparing to teach this sunday and going through notes and articles and scripture passages…this week is all about our perspective on whether we are owners or stewards…and not just of stuffffff, but of all that we have…time, energy, relationships, knowledge, money, family, job, car, house, gifts and talents, attitudes…EVERYTHING!!!

the question that i have come up with to start things off is this…what is the one thing that you don’t have right now, that you really want??? maybe it’s a vehicle, house, job, spouse (if you’re single), pair of shoes, set of golf clubs…??? then what would you do or what have you done to get it??? maybe you have or will save up for it, play the lottery, on-line dating, have a garage sale, send out applications???

what is the motivation for us, behind that one thing??? is it selfish, be honest…that means we are owners and not stewards, because we are focused on us and what we want… the motivation should be because we could really use that one thing to do some amazing things for God, to further His kingdom, to share His love, grace, THE GOOD NEWS with others around us.

today i’m thinking…what if God was asked this question??? i’m convinced that the answer would be this…He would want to have a personal relationship with every person to ever walk the face of the earth!!! what has He done to get this one thing??? He created(s) us…He sent His Son to earth to pay for the penalty of our sins, by giving His life…He gave all that He has, the very best that He has, Jesus Christ!!! He does all that He can do to have this one thing…

am i pursuing Him like that??? am i living a life worthy of His pursuit??? WOW!!!

sooooo, as some of you may have found i have had a few difficulties in the past 72 hours with my website….in the realm of things, definitely not earth shattering, but frustrating to say the least! i attempted to check things out over the weekend and the site was not available…so i logged in and i could edit and check things in my account for the blog…but still no site available!

after a few conversations with tech support…my domain name that was supposed to automatically renew…didn’t renew… that $6.49 that it cost last year to reserve my domain name…now cost $20, because it’s now a renewal fee, i’m no longer a first time customer…however, they reserved the domain name for me, for one more year…that means i can’t go to another company which would be cheaper, without either losing the domain name or paying the $20 to renew it first…sooo frustrating!

for whatever reason, this reminded me of how some people are with Christianity…for some reason people tend to make it so much harder than it really needs to be, so much more complicated…just like this company i was dealing with, there are unwritten rules that people throw into Christianity, that are no where in the bible…not only that it’s sooo frustrating to me!

Christ calls us to deny ourselves…take up our cross…and follow Him! that is difficult enough in and of itself, especially if you are like me and denying yourself isn’t what i would call a simple task…i’m very selfish at times…so when all the extra, unwritten, un-needed rules and regulations are thrown in there…YIKES!!!

so thankfully we are back up and running now…thankfully God doesn’t have the unwritten rules and regulations for us to follow…and i can relax, not being sooo frustrating!

**i will note that wordpress is my hosting company for my blog/website…they are not the company holding the rights to my domain name…wordpress tech support was great in notifying me of the root of the problem…thank you wordpress(nate)!