Jud Wilhite

jud — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:13:46 +0000

Lori is my wife. I have the certificate to prove it. There is nothing I can do to make myself any more or less her husband.

One way I can view our marriage is as a completed transaction. I spent all kinds of time and energy landing her, and now that that’s done I can move on to the next thing. Guys tend to operate this way. There are all kinds of phone calls and romance when you’re dating, then the marriage happens and no more candles, no more flowers or poems. All that energy gets directed elsewhere.

But that doesn’t fly for long, and a lot of us have learned the hard way that marriage is not a completed transaction; it’s an investment opportunity. And the same is true of our relationship with God. It’s not a one-time transaction–it’s an ongoing opportunity to invest.

I know a lot of you are already feeling the guilts. You’re like, “Oh, man, are you going to talk about spending time doing God stuff? Because I tried that and I got nothing out of it.” No, I’m not talking about spending time. I’m talking about investing time.

Lori didn’t marry me so she could be ignored for the next 40 years! She married me, and I married her, so we could continue to build our relationship and grow closer over time. The same is true with God. He doesn’t want you to just accept Him once and never talk again—He wants to develop a growing relationship with you.

This takes effort sometimes, just like a marriage relationship. But like my marriage to Lori, the payoff is huge. When you invest time in God, it’s not to get Him to love you. He’s already crazy about you. Instead, connecting with Him lets you also experience His joy and peace in your life.

Don’t settle for a passionless, distant, transactional relationship with God. He’s offering you so much more. Make the decision to invest.

__________

jud — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:58:18 +0000

What a great Father’s Day weekend! I absolutely loved getting a chance to talk with Jase Robertson and his wife Missy during our services. We covered everything from how their family got a TV show (“The producers said reality TV was about friction, fighting and four-letter words; we said we’re more about faith, family and facial hair”) to Jase’s first encounter with God in nature, his journey to accepting Christ, their insights on marriage, and even Psalms 139 as justification for his beard! Thanks, Jase and Missy, for making time to be with us this weekend–we’re really glad to have you as new friends of Central.

Father’s Day 2013

jud — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:45:53 +0000

You are NOT going to want to miss Father’s Day at Central! Join us this weekend when Jase from the TV show “Duck Dynasty” joins us live at the Henderson campus. Click here for all the times. Can’t wait—hope to see you there!

Marriage and Mortgages

jud — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:22:11 +0000

There are some really significant days in the life of a young couple. One is their wedding day, and another is the day they buy their first home together. Both are exciting, fun and full of promise, but the paperwork is dramatically different.

A mortgage is a contract, and like most contracts it defines the minimum requirements. You only have to pay this much and only do these things. They only have to fix these certain things if they break for a set amount of time. A contract has rules; pages and pages of rules. If you don’t agree or abide, you don’t get the house. But with a marriage certificate there isn’t a thick stack of pages and pages of conditions. There aren’t all these rules. A marriage isn’t starting a contract. You don’t define the minimum requirement. You are starting a relationship, which is all about promising the maximum. Relationships are based on love and trust, more than rules.

God isn’t about a contract, with a stack of rules and regulations that define the minimum standard. He’s about a marriage covenant, a committed, sold-out relationship. God doesn’t want you signing a big stack of papers. What he wants is far bigger and simpler than that. He wants your heart. He is saying yes to you. He wants you to say yes to him.

You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘Christianity is not about religion, it’s about relationship.” I’ve heard it a lot. I’ve even said it a lot, but time after time I found myself relating to God like we had a contract, rather than a relationship. It was all about what I was doing rather than how we were doing.

Here’s the thing: doing things for God so that you can bargain with God for certain things doesn’t sound like a very healthy relationship. It sounds like religion, and religion in this sense always wears you out. But relationship fills you up. Jesus didn’t die so you could only perform your religious duties. He died so you can be in a divine romance with a living God. He wants us to know him. He wants to love us, and change us. He wants to fill us up with the strength and hope we need to face our challenges.

Religion can’t do that. It’s not about a contract, it’s a loving covenant. You need to trade religion for relationship because we aren’t meant to run on empty, we’re meant to be full of God.

jud — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 03:25:22 +0000

For years I ran on empty. At first I ran from God. As an addicted, rebellious teen I figured God was chasing me down to make me pay for my sins. And one day, when I couldn’t run anymore, I fell to my knees and asked for His help. I accepted His grace and began to live a new life.

But next thing I knew, I was running again. Not from Him, but for Him. I knew God had forgiven me once for free, but now I figured I had to work to keep it, and I was exhausted from all the guilt and shame of not feeling good enough.

I think a lot of us experience that. But here’s the good news. You don’t need to run from God or for God, because He is pursuing you. God pursues you even after you’ve placed your faith in Him—not to drain you with more obligations, but to fill you up with strength and significance.

As we give God our time and attention, he changes the landscape of our life. We stop worrying so much. We start seeing problems in a different light. We have this unexplainable peace, knowing that God is in control, and that he loves us, and nothing can ever come between us. We become unshakeable, unstoppable, unbreakable. We get something no amount of time or money can buy: a life well-lived because we are well-loved. That’s why we need God–we aren’t meant to run on empty, we’re meant to be full of Him.

One of my favorite stories

jud — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 20:24:00 +0000

One of my favorite stories to come out of Central’s Baptism Celebration was that of Miranda. She writes:

“I’ve attended Step Study and Celebrate Recovery at Henderson now for the last 6 1/2 months and I also graduated from your last First Step class. I’m a recovering alcoholic drug addict who just received my 6 month chip. All I’ve wanted to do is get baptized… Unfortunately I have a house arrest anklet from the courts on that can not be put under water, so SADLY I gave up hope of being able to be baptized today… But because of your team, and some help from my friends, they went out of their way to make it possible for me!! They carried me into the water while another person held my foot over the edge, and by the GRACE OF GOD, I wash washed free from my sins!!! My heart now feels only joy and completely RENEWED by God’s LOVE!!!”

Here’s a picture of it… and here’s what I want you to think about, looking at this image. Do you know why we can baptize people under house arrest? Because even though the world condemns us, Jesus doesn’t. Your parents might condemn you, your job, your ex, heck, the justice system might condemn you (and rightly so!) but listen, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Period. End of story. That’s why we baptize prisoners, addicts, cheats, liars, the prideful, the angry, the lost and the hurting. It’s being IN Christ and MOVING toward Him that matters. Never lay down your identity. Never forget who you are IN Him! We are not defined by our weakness; we are defined by Christ’s strength.

Move Forward In Your Freedom

jud — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:55:54 +0000

Romans 8:2 (NLT): And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Whenever we get to this time of year, with summer break about to start for schools, there are a lot of students and parents anxious for freedom. And when it starts, it’s amazing!…..for about a week. Boredom sets in, and then comes whining.

Here’s what’s happening: the real value of freedom is what you choose to do with it. True, you’re free from having to go to school, but that doesn’t mean you’re free to just sit there and do nothing. It doesn’t mean the world owes you satisfaction. It means you are to move forward. Do something good with your freedom, or you will find yourself bored. And what do bored people do? Bored people do bad, and you know it’s true!

Here’s what I believe: the devil wants free people to feel condemned and condemned people to feel free. He can’t keep you from being free, but he can keep you from moving forward in your freedom. Friends, you are in Christ and this means you are free; you must hold tightly to this identity and move forward in it, because it makes you stronger.

Good or Bad? … In!

jud — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:06:24 +0000

This weekend we started our new “Stronger” series at Central, looking at how we can live every day in God’s strength rather than our own. Today I want to remind you of one of the very powerful truths found in Romans 8 to help us replace our weakness with Christ’s strength. Romans 8:1 says, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” That word belong is also translated “in.” To be a Christian is to be in Christ. When you are in Christ, you trade your badness for His goodness. You trade your weakness for His strength. You trade your guilt for His grace.

Many Christians think of themselves as either good or bad. They work and work to do good, and when they fail they allow guilt to set in and they consider themselves bad. Instead of trading that guilt for grace, they try to cover their guilt with more and more good. It’s a battle of good or bad. And it happens again and again and again, until the guilt and shame build this huge wall blocking you from everything God wants to do in your life. But here is the good news again: “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” And let me tell you, that word no means no, none, not ever! Not your past, present, or future, and that’s why they call it good news! When you are in Christ Jesus you get to trade your guilt for grace, and that makes you stronger.

Stronger

jud — Fri, 31 May 2013 20:30:44 +0000

Hey Guys,
This weekend, we are starting a new series at Central called “Stronger.” For the next few weeks we are going to be looking at what the Bible has to say about living every day with God’s strength rather than our own. It can be so easy for us to let our past, our failures, and our weaknesses steal our joy in Christ and define who we are or where we are going. But as God’s children, we are not defined by our weakness; we are defined by Christ’s strength.

Jesus was the only one strong enough to lift the sin from our shoulders. He was the only one good enough to die for you and me, long before we were worth dying for. He is the only one powerful enough to remove our condemnation and set us free, and He is the one who sends his Spirit to live in us. You are filled with a strength not your own. You were born with it when you were born into Christ, you just have to tap into it!

Fulfillment

jud — Wed, 29 May 2013 17:12:10 +0000

What’s the one thing in your life that brings you fulfillment? A relationship? Your job? Your kids? Maybe the feeling of fulfillment is completely eluding you…. but it doesn’t have to.

One day I was frantically searching for my glasses and I asked my wife Lori to help me find them. She just looked at me and said, “Jud, they are on your face. You are wearing your glasses now.” I didn’t even know what to say. I mean, how foolish is that? I searched for something right under (or on) my nose.

If you look for respect, love, validation, and significance from anything BUT God you will always be let down. The Bible says in Ephesians 1:4, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ.” That’s you… God chose YOU and loved YOU.

You don’t have to search anymore. You can rest in the Father’s love for you.