The Pastor's Perspective

    You know your preconceived ideas about someone or some group has a big impact on how you treat them.  Think about it: if you believe a person is a world-class expert, you listen to them with rapt attention. If you think they are a deceiver, you meet every word with suspicion . Sometimes its what they are wearing that can affect the way you treat them or it might be their accent.      Sometimes, however we can be surprised when our preconceived and sometimes ignorant ideas and notions are challenged. Sometimes if we will wait and listen we may just find that the expert is not all that reliable or that person you might have though was not all that bright may very well be brilliant. You see sometimes what we need most is a change in perspective.       In the 16th century, most people believed children born deaf were "simple-minded" and incapable of learning or even receiving salvation . But a Benedictine monk named Pedro Ponce de Leon ...

  When was the last time you paused, took a deep breath, and simply said, "Thank you, Lord, for saving me"?       If you have been saved for a while the answer to that question might be a bit embarrassing, but not surprising. Truth be told the longer a person is saved, the more likely it is for the excitement of your salvation to be just as thrilling as it once was. Its a rare thing to see someone who has been saved for several years to still have the same passion, drive and enthusiasm that they had when they first received the gift of salvation for themselves.   In the hustle of our daily routines—juggling work, family, and endless to-do lists—it is easy for the miracle of our salvation to become "old news." We know we are saved, we know Jesus died for us, and we know our eternity is secure . But has the wonder of that reality faded into the background? Has the fire you once had when you first were saved cooled down to a simple smoldering ember? Well ...

     When you think about a "successful" church or a "growing" Christian, what are the first things that come to mind? Often, we look at the external: the size of the crowd, the variety of programs on the calendar, or the health of the bank account . Another words we tend to look at the numbers right? After all if God is at work shouldn't it be visible?      Years ago a pastor friend told me something that has stuck with me for many years. We were talking about some churches we knew who were allowing things that were down right unbiblical. They were doing things that were ethically and morally questionable. However despite all of these there churches were massive and there weekly attendance was always in the hundreds. I asked how in the world does that happen? To which my pastor replied "Well Tumors grow too".  You see not everything that is Growing is good.        It is easy to fall into the trap of the "expert" mindset, belie...