NOT A FAN

Well, some of you may say, why is this Blog titled "NOT A FAN"! Well, it is the title of my Next Sermon series! I am fully convinced that to date, this will be the most Challenging, thought-provoking, life-changing Series that God has ever prompted me to teach and preach from. The Message behind this series is that Jesus is looking for those who will be His Followers, not His Fans! Fans are described as "Enthusiastic Admirers" which means as long as He is doing and giving me what I need Him to I admire Him and am enthusiastic about Him, but the moment I feel like He's letting me down and not coming through for me as I think He should, I lose interest just as I would for my favorite sports team, but a "Follower" is not like that, because a follower goes where Jesus goes, does what He wants and is obedient to what He says, this is a "fully devoted follower of Christ", which our Ministry and I as a Pastor am determined to lead people to become. Begin your assessment NOW, are you a FAN or a FOLLOWER!

SOME THOUGHTS

As a Pastor, Spiritual Leader, Father and Husband, I am determined to MODEL what I Preach and Teach.

- 1st Corinthians 11:1 (NIV) says, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ"

This must be Practiced in order to be Perfected! I'm up for the Challenge.

PJHV

GREATNESS

Saw a great quote in reference to Greatness, thought I would share it...
"Great work is done by people who are not afraid to be great"

LISTENING TO OTHERS

Even in Leadership it's Important that you Value the Voice of Others! The Leader doesn't know everything nor can he or she do everything! God places people around you to add significance to what He's already placed in your spirit!

pjv

SOME THOUGHTS

I'm in a season where I'm assessing and evaluating those things and people in my life who are either an asset or a liability. Sometimes you have to take a break from certain associations AND activities in order to get centered and re-focused. I refuse to be trapped in uncertainity so I've learned to give focus and energy to those things that promote progress in my life and bring God uncompromised Glory. Just some thoughts, I hope someone was helped!

PJV

5 THINGS CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT CELEBRATE Part 2

6. Laziness
7. Injustice
8. Selfishness
9. Disorder
10. Average or Below Average Service/Ministry

MORE TO COME, STAY TUNED!!!

MOTIVES

The other day I was listening to a very powerful sermon preached by a great local Pastor. In his message he referenced James 4:3 as he talked about asking God for things wth the wrong motive and intent. The (New Living Translation (NLT) of this passage reads like this, "And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure".

I begin to ponder those things that I desired and I had brought to God's attention through prayer. One thing in particular is my love and passion for serving and doing Ministry and the desire to serve in the Pastoral Ministry Full time. As I thought about it, I know what I have thought about in terms of what I would be doing if the the Full time Pastorate was a reality for me, but then after hearing this message by this Pastor and further studying the text in my own personal and private time with God, I realized that God sometimes doesn't allow certain things to happen because we may say we'll do one thing, but in His infinite wisdom and Omniscience He knows and sees a part of our intent that we don't see and He keeps us from making a fool of our ourselves.

Well, I am humble enough to realize, acknowledge and understand that my urgency for moving into Full time Ministry will be brought to fruition when God knows I'm ready. That's the difference between us and God, sometimes the things I think or believe I'm ready for, God knows that I'm not, even when you are being faithful in your present situation.

It may be perhaps that in this season, your faithfulness to who, what and where you are right now may be needed just a little while longer. So my prayer is "Lord make my intentions, Your intentions", I don't ever want to overrule God because of the wrong Motives. I'M WAITING ON GOD TO RELEASE ME~

5 THINGS CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT CELEBRATE Part 1

1. Mediocrity
2. Carnality
3. Disunity/Division
4. Pride
5. Chaos

More Tomorrow!!!

Pastor V.

TRADITION AND TRADITIONALISM

"Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering where we are and when we are and that it is we who have to decide. Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of this homogenized tradition"

–Jaroslav Pelikan, interview with U.S. News & World Report, July 26, 1989 (the interview focused on his book The Vindication of Tradition)

Face it with Hope

One of the advantages of being a Christian is that our Outer Circumstances cannot dismantle our Inner Happiness and Joy. That's becasue a believer's Happiness and Joy is not dicatated by Outer Circumstances but from the Power of their relationship with Jesus Christ. There's an Old Song that says, "This Joy I have, the World didn't give it and the World can't take it away".

The Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:18 (NKJV) "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us". So just know that your destiny is tied to something much greater than the pain and trouble you're facinig. We have a heavenly Hope that's greater than our present Pain.  BE ENCOURAGED SOMEBODY!