I love reading about Peter and Paul’s adventures as they and others began the quest of spreading the gospel all around the world.  I really don’t think the early church was a lot different from ours today in some respects.  The early church was filled with imperfect people, which meant that they had an imperfect church.  Not much has changed over the last 2,000 years.  Our people are still imperfect and so are our churches.  The apostles were having a bit of a dispute with the early church leaders particularly from Jerusalem.  When Jesus ascended to Heaven after rising from the grave, He instructed the disciples to take the good news (gospel) and share it all over the world.  The disciples did just that.  Gentiles (non Jews) were finding Christ for the first time.  When the disciples came back from their journey to share the exciting news with the church leaders in Jerusalem, they were met with a bit of hesitation.

The early church leaders in Jerusalem said to the apostles something to the affect of, “that’s great the these people have met Christ, now when are they going to be circumcised?”

Circumcision was and still is a Jewish custom.  In the Old Testament, God mandated circumcision for the Jewish people as a way of setting them apart and making them different than any other people.  After a baby boy was 8 days old, they would be taken to have a circumcision ceremony done marking them as officially one of God’s chosen people.  When Jesus came and introduced the new covenant, it was a way of Him saying, “there is a new sheriff in town.”  In other words, no longer will you be set apart and be made right in God’s eyes because of a painful circumcision process that babies go through.  You are set apart and made right with God because of what I am about to do for you on the cross.

The first church battled some of the same things we still battle today.  Jews were trying to force circumcision on the new gentile converts as if to say, “you can’t be saved unless you do this.”  They were convinced that honoring this tradition was paramount to salvation.  The apostles intervened and explained that it is not a ritual that makes you right with God, it’s believing in Christ through faith.  Often, we in Christian circles try to add stipulations to following Christ out of our own tradition, not because Jesus commanded it.

Jesus called us to be fishers of men not cleaners of men.  He has promised that if we will focus on catching the fish, He will focus on cleaning them.  We need to focus on sharing the good news of grace and let the Holy Spirit go to work on all the other stuff.  In today’s church, we may not say to a new believer that they have to be circumcised before following Christ.  Our expectations have changed.  We now say things like, “when you come to church, you need to dress a certain way or sing a certain way or respond a certain way.”  I am so grateful that Jesus came and made all things new.

With Expectancy!

Corey

corey@firstassemblywest.com

I had leftovers for lunch today.  I know what you are thinking.  ”Corey, I don’t care what you had to eat today.”  I don’t blame you for that mindset. Nevertheless, for the sake of the blog, I had leftovers today.  Now normally, I don’t particularly care for leftovers.  For some reason, meals always seem to taste better the first time around.  I’m not quite sure what happens in the fridgeration process that makes leftovers taste not as good as the first. Obviously, freshness is a major key.  The strange thing about me is that there are a few meals that I actually enjoy more the second time around than the first.  Today was one of those occasions.  Julie made my favorite meal last night which is this ridiculously awesome chicken casserole with mashed potatoes and green beans.  Seriously folks, this meal is legit.  I could eat it four nights a week no joke.

Confused yet?  Wondering where I am going with all of this?  Possibly thinking to yourself, “maybe he should have waited another week before he started blogging again?”  Don’t worry, this leftover rambling has a point.  I started to think today about why we eat leftovers.  There are obvious reasons.  First of all, we don’t want to waste the food.  Secondly, leftovers are a great convenience.  After all, it’s much easier to reheat already cooked food than it is to make a new meal from scratch.  Leftovers also have money saving potential if you take them to work instead of going out to eat.  The leftovers are probably healthier than the restaurant food we were going to have for lunch anyway!

Growing up, leftovers always held a special place in my heart.  I remember as a first year Master’s Commission student, I would find myself at friends houses after they had just gotten finished with some sort of a small group Bible study.  Those small group studies ALWAYS had food and they ALWAYS had leftovers. Enter Corey.  I realized those leftovers were not originally intended to be consumed by me.  I also knew that I was hungry and leftover nacho’s seemed like a much better option to me than what I had to eat at my house.  Leftover food obviously is the food that people don’t want to eat usually because they are too full.  Sometimes I wonder if the most important things in my life feel like they are “leftovers.”

I’m sure Jesus loves spending any time with me that I can give Him, even if it is my leftovers.  I’m sure my wife or girls appreciate times when dad is home, even if it is my leftovers.  They are not the issue.  I am.  The issue is not are they willing to accept them.  The issue is, am I willing to give them?  I recognize that there are seasons of business.  There are moments when your kids will be grateful for any time, even it is leftover time.  There are seasons when God understands that all I have to give is leftover time.  He is just grateful for the time.  I don’t want to eat leftovers for every meal.  They are ok to have every once in awhile.  I also don’t want to give God my leftovers every day.  I don’t want to give my family leftovers as a normal rule.  I like fresh food.  My God and my family like a fresh me.  As this new year roles around, make sure you make giving those most important to you your “leftovers” the exception and not the rule.

With Expectancy!
Corey

corey@firstassemblywest.com

But of all the things I don’t like, there is one part of living in Florida that I really dislike most of all. I don’t like having to watch the Bucs and Dolphins play every week during NFL season. Now this is absolutely nothing against either one of these teams or their fans. I’m just not one. Because I am from Chicago, I have been forever cursed by being born into a family that roots for Chicago sports teams. That means I get to watch the Cubs and Bears lose every year.

I should say, that means I get to watch updates at halftime of the Bears games because local tv contracts tell me that I will be watching the Bucs or the Dolphins. I am a Directv customer which means I have the option of ordering the NFL ticket which if you didn’t know, gives the customer the ability to watch any of the NFL games no matter where they may live. Sounds like a great thing to me! A few weeks ago, I called Directv to find out how much the NFL ticket would cost. The lady informed me that the cost would be $300. Ouch. As much as I love watching the Bears on Sunday’s, I don’t $300 like it.

I politely told the lady that I couldn’t pay that much but I appreciated her time. She asked me, “What would it take to get you to reconsider?” I responded by saying that I would buy it for $100. To my surprise, she said ok! I was ecstatic! I felt as if I had negotiated the deal of a lifetime. I shared the “good news” with Julie that I just saved us $200 on our tv bill! She didn’t see it that way. Apparently that type of logic only applies when girls “save” money when getting a “deal” for some new clothes.

What’s the point of all of this? 2 things. First of all, I wanted to brag about my incredible negotiating skills. Ok…….maybe not. 2nd of all, this reminds me of the verse in James 4 that tells us the reason we don’t have what we are seeking is that we have not asked God for it. It follows up by saying that even in the situation we do ask, we ask with wrong motives. I love the fact that we serve a God that WANTS us to ask Him for things.

Of course we don’t always get everything we want. That really isn’t the point though. The reason God wants us to ask Him for things is because He wants more than anything else a relationship with you. He wants you to talk to Him. He wants to know what is important to you. And even though, sometimes in His infinite wisdom He doesn’t give us what we ask for, we can be sure that His love never fails. Like a loving parent who sometimes says no to their children, God sometimes tells His kids no especially when He knows He has something better waiting in the wings.

If I never asked the Directv lady for the $200 discount, I never would have been able to watch the Bears lose every week like I get the privilege to now. If you need a miracle in your life today, make sure you take the first step. Ask God for it. You never know, He may say Yes.

With Expectancy!

Corey
corey@firstassemblywest.com

Today, I experienced something that wasn’t very odd. In fact, in the society in which we live today, this actually happens quite frequently. Let me paint a litle scenario for you. I am at the office and it is lunchtime. I get some food and stop into the gas station to buy my weekly supply of Dr. Pepper for my office. I know it’s not the healthiest of choices. Maybe we can talk about my unhealthy beverage choices at a later time. Nevertheless, I go to pay for my soda’s and the nice lady behind the counter has no idea that I am there at the register ready to pay. The reason? She is texting someone. She is standing about 5 feet behind the register fully immersed in a conversation with someone else. I stood there for about 30 seconds before another employee saw me standing there from the back of the store and walked all the way to the front to help me. The other employee also happened to have her hands full of stuff at the time. So she sets her stuff down, walks across the store and helps me pay for my drinks.

Now, you could say, “why didn’t you say something to the texting lady?” All I would have had to do is say excuse me and she would have helped me………maybe……….after she said “LOL” or “TTYL” to whomever she was talking to.

The reason I let the whole thing play out the way it did was i was trying to prove a point. We live in a world FULL of distractions. With the advancement of cell phone technology, most of us, (including the guy writing this blog) are WAY to attached to our little cell phone devices.

I got into my car almost laughing to myself about the whole situation when the Holy Spirit just absolutely leveled me from out of the blue. Don’t you hate that!?!? Here I was perfectly content to judge someone else and get offended that I wasn’t being serviced properly and than, wham! The Holy Spirit hits me with this thought……”Corey, how many times have you done to your family what the lady behind the desk just did to you?”

Busted. You got me God. Instead of driving back to the church lamenting my experience at the gas station, I drove back repenting of my own actions. God has a great way of bringing us all back in line when we need it. God was saying to me,

“Corey, that’s great that you can point out the speck in that lady’s eye at the gas station across the street. But when are you going to realize the log that is in your own eye? How many times has Addison wanted your undivided attention and instead your face was glued to your iphone?”

I had no answer. I guess the morale of this story is simple. When you are doing something, anything, be all the way there! That applies to work, church, your relationship with God, your family…….everything!

I would also like to thank the nice lady at the gas station for teaching me an important lesson today. Maybe…..just maybe God directed me to that place today to give me a picture of what I myself often look like on a daily basis.

With Expectancy!

Corey
corey@firstassemblywest.com

As you can imagine, Carolena has incurred a substantial medical bill that now leaves her parents in a difficult situation. Not only do they have their precious baby girl on the front of their mind.  They have to figure out a way to pay for her medical care.  Because of this situation, family and friends of Baby C (Carolena) have organized a 5k run walk that will take place this Saturday at Centennial Park in Fort Myers.  The cost is $25 for adults and $15 for children under 18.  All proceeds for this event go to help the medical costs incurred both past and future.  The race starts at 8:00 am and no, you do not need to run the whole thing.  If you are anything like me, running to the mailbox and back is about all that I can handle.

To be completely honest with you, I have never met little Carolena.  I don’t know her parents.  Carolena has lived and fought for her life for 2 years and I didn’t even know it.  I don’t know what it is like to only have 1 ventricle working on my heart.  I don’t know what it is like to be a parent of a child who has had 2 open heart surgery’s thus far with more on the horizon.  My youngest daughter Sadie was hospitalized for about a week when she was born with a breathing issue. No parent should have to watch their kid hooked up to that many machines.  I remember feeling overwhelmed and helpless as it seemed that my child’s future was in the hands of physicians and it seemed like there was nothing I could do.  This family has gone through significantly more than anything I have ever experienced.

As a pastor, there are some things I don’t understand or have answers to.  I can’t give an answer as to why Carolena was born this way.  I don’t know why a God that has the ability to heal has not yet done so for this precious little life.  I don’t know why health care coverage is so expensive or why sometimes, life is given and taken away so tragically.  Those are just a few of the questions I can’t wait to ask God someday.  Yet in spite of my questions, I still choose to trust God. Why?  Because He is God and I am not.

I was reading a verse in Psalms earlier today that really struck a cord with this situation with baby Carolena and her heart.  This is what Psalm 147:3 says:

“God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.”

Sometimes I hear of stories like Baby C and think to myself, “what good could I possibly do?”  I’m just one guy.  I don’t have the ability to fix the heart of a baby girl.  I don’t have the resources to pay for the incredible cost.  I don’t have the words to reassure the family and answer the questions as to why this happened.  But instead of focusing on what I don’t have, it’s time to start focusing on what I do have.  I have legs.  I have a voice.  I have resources that God has blessed me with.  I have a soul.  Sometimes the way God heals the broken hearts of people and bandages their wounds is by using his followers to do it.

As his followers, it is time that we follow the example of our creator.  He is the heart mender and the burden bearer.  He wants to use us as his church to be the light of the world.  I believe with all of my heart that if Jesus was here on this Earth, He would be at the race for Baby C on Saturday.  Why?  Because He is a God of compassion.  He doesn’t wait for us to get our lives straight before He comes and rescues us, He always makes the first move.  The good news is that Jesus will be at this race on Saturday.  Why?  Because He lives in the hearts of those who strive to roll up their sleeves and shine some light in a world full of darkness.  If you would like more information on how you can get involved, please contact the church office at 239.458.0813.

I’m racing for Baby C on Saturday.  I hope to see you there.

With Expectancy!

Corey

corey@firstassemblywest.com

First of all, 2 Kings is one of my absolute favorite books in the Bible. There is so much history and drama. There are miracles and confrontations. We get to read about the likes of Elijah, Elisha and many of the Kings of Israel and Judah. During this specific section of 2 Kings, Elisha had just died and had been burried in a tomb. We read about this story in 2 Kings 13:20-21

“Elisha died and was buried.  Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. 21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.”

Picture this scene. Elisha the prophet is dead. He was a man that performed many miracles. There were some people that liked him and some that did not. The kings in particular didn’t care for Elisha because he oftener prophesied negative things about them. We today know that it was God telling Elisha to say those things. Upon the death of Elisha, he was burried in a tomb. One day, some guys are taking one of their buddies who had died away to be burried. All of a sudden, they see some of there enemies from the country of Moab getting ready to attack them. So what do the guys carrying the dead body do? Drop him and run for their life that’s what!

As “chance” would have it, this dead guy gets dropped onto the tomb of Elisha who at this point was dead. But apparently, the anointing of God was still on the dead bones of Elisha so much so that when the dead body of this man was dropped onto the tomb of Elisha, the man came back to life again. Can you imagine the drama of this scene? Put yourself in the dead guys shoes. He knows he is sick. His last memories are of him being ill. The next thing he knows, he is laying face first on top of a dead guy! If that didn’t freak him out enough already, he comes out of the tomb to see his friends running away. He steps outside to see what they are running away from and to his dismay, the moabites are quickly approaching.

I really wish I knew what happened to this guy after this encounter. All we know is that he was raised to life again. He could have ran back into the tomb and hid. Maybe he ran and caught up to his friends. Maybe he stayed and was killed by the moabites. Can you imagine that? You get raised to life which is amazing only to find out that you have literally been thrown into the heat of the battle. You get raised to life again only to die in battle 5 minutes later!

Doesn’t it seem like life works that way sometimes? God provides in miraculous ways for us one moment, and the next moment we are in the fight of our lives. I don’t know what happened in the life of this man. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert on your life either. But there is one thing I do know. I would rather place my hands in the God who can raise people to life by using the bones of a dead guy than try to figure things out myself. Life isn’t always easy. Sometimes things happen that aren’t fair. But no matter what, trust in God. He has the power not only to raise the dead, but to lift you out of whatever situation is going on in your life today.

With Expecancy!

Corey
corey@firstassemblywest.com

O – I have often asked myself why of all the people in the Bible, David was the one who was given the title of “Man after God’s own heart.” Don’t get me wrong. David did a lot of great things. He was a pretty good king. He killed Goliath. I don’t doubt that he sincerely loved God. But he was a terrible father. He also committed the grievous sins of murder and adultery. How does a man like that get the title man after God’s own heart? I think there are several factors to this but this verse highlights one of the main ones. More than anything else in the world, David wanted to be close to God. Here was a man who literally had the world at his fingertips and yet he still said, God show me if there is anything in my life that offends you. People have been trying to hide from God for centuries. He we see David saying, “God I don’t want to hide from you. If there is anything……anything at all in my life that offends you. Point it out so that I can fix it.”

A – This verse convicts me greatly. While I have no idea the pressures that come from being the king of an entire country, I certainly know what it is like to lead people. In a world where spiritual leaders live double lives, it is so important for me to practice what I preach. Of all the responsibilities that I have, there is none more important than being a child of God. I need to be so aggressive in my relationship with God that I go to Him each and every day just as David did. I need to be willing to say, “God, I am not trying to hide anything from you. If there is anything in me that offends you. If I have any blind spots. If there is just the smallest little thing that 999 out of 1000 would never even notice. Show me.”

P – God help me to desire you as David did. I know that I am not perfect. I know that I still have a long way to go to be all that you have called me to be. Help me to desire you so strongly that I come to you each and every day asking you to show me things in my life that I may not see. I desire to be an authentic, genuine follower of yours. Help me in my areas of weakness and give me the strength to be as bold in my requests as David was.

O – Jewish culture is extremely family oriented. The take extremely seriously the commandment to honor your father and mother which was one of the 10 commandments. They believed that it was the child’s responsibility to care for their parents as they got older just as their parents cared for them when they were younger. Apparently, some religious leaders had told their parents that they could not provide for them because they had dedicated their money all to God and had no more left to give to them. Initially, that sounds noble until you look deeper to see what was really going on. In saying “we give all our money to God,” what they were really doing is keeping the money for themselves. They would save all their money and say to themselves, “I am keeping all of this in case God ever asks me to give it.” They had no intention of giving that money to God. It was all lip service designed to get them out of a responsibility that they had while at the same time trying to make themselves look more spiritual.

A – This kind of thing still happens today. I need to be very careful to make sure to allow God to test my motives. It is always a temptation to try and make yourself sound spiritual. God always looks at the heart and He cannot be deceived. He knows why I do everything that I do. He knows why I give what I give. Why I serve where I serve. He knows it all! It is so important to stay connected to God so that I can learn how to hear His voice. I don’t want to be guilty of saying I am doing something that God told me to only to find out He had nothing to do with it.

P – Oh God please help me to guard my heart. I do not want to get caught in the trap of religion. I know this has affected so many. Help me to pursue you with everything inside of me. Help me to live my life not for the praise of onlookers but for the audience of my maker. Purify me and make me more like you!

O – This was David’s prayer after his epidode in the cave with King Saul. Saul had been chasing David throughout the entire country of Israel due to jeolosy. David found refuge in a cave in En Gedi which is in the southern part of Israel. David had the chance to kill saul and be done with him once and for he chose not to. Even though David had the legal right to due away with his problem, (Saul) he believed that God could handle his problems far better than he could himself. David had spent years running. He had no idea who he could trust. His prison was fear, insecurity, doubt that God could take care of him and loneliness. In God’s time, He delivered David out of that prison.

A – I find it very interesting that the first thing David thanks God for after God busts him out of his “prison” was godly friends. We have no idea just how valuable it is to have people in our lives that have our best interest at heart. So many times, we can feel as if we are on an Island. We feel that no one cares or notices what we are going through. I’m sure David felt that in His life. But once David learned to rely on God for everything He needed, God sent him what he craved………friends. We can see the goodness of God in the people that He brings along the way who help us and give us a shoulder to lean on.

P – Lord Jesus, I ask for your help in 2 things. 1st of all, send people into my life that will be a source of strength to me when I go through challenging moments. 2nd of all, help me to be that friend to someone else. Thank you that you send people to me when I need them the most and also for allowing me to be the answer to the prayer that someone is praying for friendship. Your grace is amazing and it overwhelms me everyday.

I love the quote that says the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Sometimes reading the Bible is that way. It is absurd to think that you will understand everything about the Bible in just a few weeks. I have been reading the Bible for 15 years and I still don’t understand everything in there! My goal every day in reading the Bible is to understand a little more than I did the day before. The more you read and apply to your life, the closer to God you will become. You will also begin to learn the heart and nature of God which will help you to understand why some things happen the way that they do.

The Bible study method that I use is called S.O.A.P. It is very simple and for the next week, I will share some of my entries with you. I take my Bible reading schedule from www.youversion.com. The specific plan that I am on is Life Journal. This plan takes you through the OT once per year and the NT twice per year. If you go to West, you can follow along with this plan on the back of the bulletin each week. I read the selected readings for the day, choose 1 verse to write about and then apply the S.O.A.P method. Here is what S.O.A.P. stands for.

S – Scripture (Write down the verse word for word that stood out to you that particular day)

O – Observation (What is something you observed about that verse that you maybe never thought of before. Consider who wrote the verse, who they were writing to, etc.

A – Application (perhaps the most important part of this process. Here, you write down how this verse can apply to you today.

P – Prayer (You simply verbalize in written form a prayer that seals what you just observed and applied to your life)

Over the course of the next week, I will share my soap entry for the day on this site. Hopefully, this can give you a bit of an insight as to how this works. This is NOT difficult. I guarantee that this will take your devotional life to another level. After all, isn’t life all about our pursuit of God? This will make you a better pursuer……:)

I will share my S.O.A.P for today a bit later on.

With Expectancy!

Corey