Wow!
Here we are at the end of December I know we always say how fast the months go by but I really am wondering where this month went to, oh well bring on January and 2010.
About this time every year you will hear people making New Years resolutions, one of the most common you hear is this "I am going to get fit this year" I am told that around the first of the year gym memberships will be higher than any other time of the year as people make resolutions to get in shape, the problem is this, they really do not make a resolution to get fit they just think they would like to get fit. A resolution is described the following way in the dictionary "a firm decision to do or to not do something" the reason why resolutions do not work for so many people is simple they are not firm decisions about which there is no option, they allow other options to interfere with their decision. I know something about making a decision to be healthy, one day around thirteen years ago I weighed myself and was shocked to see that I weighed 267 pounds at my height 6 feet 2 inches I was far too heavy, I decided that day that I had to change the way I was doing things, I had to change how I ate, I had to begin to exercise and these were just the physical things I had to do, then I had to change the way I thought about food and exercise I had to think healthy. I dropped 67 pounds over the next few years and today I am able to stay at my ideal weight. But one thing that will never change is my firm decision to stay healthy, I made a real resolution. James 1 states that as long as a person is double minded they will never receive anything from God because they are not stable they are unstable on translation says "irresolute" I challenge you this year to not make a random resolution, but make a firm decision about which there is no option.
Pastor Steele
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
New thing
Good Morning.
Back when I was in the seventh grade around 1980 I believe, Anne Murray had a very popular song entitled "I sure could use a little good news today" the basic premise of the song was simple, I am tired of hearing all the bad news and I would like to hear something good. I believe there are a lot of pastors ad preachers who need to recognize that the world needs to hear a little good news today, it seems every time I talk to a fellow minister the conversation will eventually turn to how bad things are, how horrible the government is, how bad of a time it is for the church, how our president is against us, if it is not the government they will say how weak and powerless the church is and how badly we are in need of revival, preachers don't preach truth anymore, the church is to modern, etc...etc.
I want to be minister that is looking for good things to happen, that is looking for the church to be all is has been called to be. I want to be a part of that generation that says regardless of what the government does, regardless of what bills are passed we are still going to see great things from God. The Church will always be what Jesus said it is, an unstoppable force that hell must reckon with at every turn. the government will not stop the church, the bills that are passed will not hinder the church we will still be doing what we are supposed to do because that is what we are called to do.
Lets believe that this is the year of new things, this is the year of great things, don't back up push forward, this is your year!
Pastor Steele
Back when I was in the seventh grade around 1980 I believe, Anne Murray had a very popular song entitled "I sure could use a little good news today" the basic premise of the song was simple, I am tired of hearing all the bad news and I would like to hear something good. I believe there are a lot of pastors ad preachers who need to recognize that the world needs to hear a little good news today, it seems every time I talk to a fellow minister the conversation will eventually turn to how bad things are, how horrible the government is, how bad of a time it is for the church, how our president is against us, if it is not the government they will say how weak and powerless the church is and how badly we are in need of revival, preachers don't preach truth anymore, the church is to modern, etc...etc.
I want to be minister that is looking for good things to happen, that is looking for the church to be all is has been called to be. I want to be a part of that generation that says regardless of what the government does, regardless of what bills are passed we are still going to see great things from God. The Church will always be what Jesus said it is, an unstoppable force that hell must reckon with at every turn. the government will not stop the church, the bills that are passed will not hinder the church we will still be doing what we are supposed to do because that is what we are called to do.
Lets believe that this is the year of new things, this is the year of great things, don't back up push forward, this is your year!
Pastor Steele
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Spiritual stupidity
Good Morning!
Wow God is so good to us!
Generally When I hear something that is very stupid I do not respond, but this morning I will make an exception.
I am a facebook user and I enjoy the networking and the communication it provides. One of my facebbok friends is a man whose family has had a huge impact on my life Pastor Kenneth W Hagin, pastor Hagin made the comment that he has stayed up last night and watched the Cowboys foot ball game he went on to states what he would be ministering on and how he hopped to see everyone there.
Well this is where the stupidity begins, there was a gentleman who began to post and accuse pastor Hagin of not having spent enough time in the Word to bring the message this morning, and he began to threaten all the users who disagreed with him using the scriptures about elijah and the children that were destroyed by bears saying they should be careful and remember that story. My point in retelling this is simple, this man was evidently not a true minster/pastor he was more than likely a self appointed prophet of some point who had no authority in his life and non one to answer to.
Everyone has a right to their opinion but when it turns to bashing good men who have done more for the kingdom than we could ever hope to accomplish we are off target and in my opinion in a very unstable place, in order to be followed one must be an outstanding follower as well as a respecter of the greater anointing. I know sometimes we as ministers do not like this, but there are greater anointing's that we are to follow and learn from be careful judging rather another man is spiritual or not, or ready to preach or not. Be blessed.
Pastor Steele
Wow God is so good to us!
Generally When I hear something that is very stupid I do not respond, but this morning I will make an exception.
I am a facebook user and I enjoy the networking and the communication it provides. One of my facebbok friends is a man whose family has had a huge impact on my life Pastor Kenneth W Hagin, pastor Hagin made the comment that he has stayed up last night and watched the Cowboys foot ball game he went on to states what he would be ministering on and how he hopped to see everyone there.
Well this is where the stupidity begins, there was a gentleman who began to post and accuse pastor Hagin of not having spent enough time in the Word to bring the message this morning, and he began to threaten all the users who disagreed with him using the scriptures about elijah and the children that were destroyed by bears saying they should be careful and remember that story. My point in retelling this is simple, this man was evidently not a true minster/pastor he was more than likely a self appointed prophet of some point who had no authority in his life and non one to answer to.
Everyone has a right to their opinion but when it turns to bashing good men who have done more for the kingdom than we could ever hope to accomplish we are off target and in my opinion in a very unstable place, in order to be followed one must be an outstanding follower as well as a respecter of the greater anointing. I know sometimes we as ministers do not like this, but there are greater anointing's that we are to follow and learn from be careful judging rather another man is spiritual or not, or ready to preach or not. Be blessed.
Pastor Steele
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Resist
Romans 8:2 states "...the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death"
I have found after eleven years of pastoring and nearly twenty years in ministry that there are people who have learned to resist the law of sin and death and those who consistently give in to it. In order to resist something you must be completely committed to something else, in order to resist the law of sin and death which would include poverty, sickness, disease, loss, destruction we must be completely committed to the law of the spirit of life, which includes prosperity, health, victory, overcoming ability.
Whatever God gives us we must keep it, we have been given the law of the spirit of life in Christ as our tool of victory, begin to put your trust in the fact that the law of the spirit of life is working in your life, days of defeat and loss are over, days of freedom now begin!
Pastor Steele
I have found after eleven years of pastoring and nearly twenty years in ministry that there are people who have learned to resist the law of sin and death and those who consistently give in to it. In order to resist something you must be completely committed to something else, in order to resist the law of sin and death which would include poverty, sickness, disease, loss, destruction we must be completely committed to the law of the spirit of life, which includes prosperity, health, victory, overcoming ability.
Whatever God gives us we must keep it, we have been given the law of the spirit of life in Christ as our tool of victory, begin to put your trust in the fact that the law of the spirit of life is working in your life, days of defeat and loss are over, days of freedom now begin!
Pastor Steele
Thursday, December 10, 2009
My Pastor
Wow! it sure is cold here in Kansas City!
I called my pastor to wish him a happy birthday this morning. As I did I thought about how much he meant to me. This is the man who encouraged me to go after the call on my life with everything I had, he encouraged me to reach farther and do more that I had ever thought possible. I watched as people did him wrong and he refused to talk about it or even make reference to it, I knew they were wrong and he knew they were wrong but he refused to blame them, he was constantly looking for a way to fix things not fracture them further. Then there were time I needed to be set straight and corrected and he did not hesitate to do that as well he did it in love but it still stung. I remember one conversation that went like this. My pastor asked me to come into his office, I was maybe 28 or 29 a young preacher with a desire to do great things for God and an ego to match. My pastor sat me down and said "Philip you are the best preacher I have in my church, you have a depth in the Word and a knowledge of the Word" (and I was thinking yes amen you are so right) but then he said "but I can't use you, because you are too prideful" OUCH!! as I sat there I did not know what to do, be angry, yell, tell him that was not so I did not know what to say or do, so I got up and went out to my seat and sat through the rest of church doing a slow burn with no intention of ever coming back. By the time we arrived home I was really mad I thought I was hurt, in reality it was my pride that was hurt how dare he tell the truth! As I sat in our little house licking my self inflicted wounds I made the decision to go back and put down my pride and become all God wanted me to be I am so glad that I did.
Today think about those who care enough to love you despite your self and then call them and let them know.
I love you Pastor Morton my world is a better place because of you.
Pastor Steele
I called my pastor to wish him a happy birthday this morning. As I did I thought about how much he meant to me. This is the man who encouraged me to go after the call on my life with everything I had, he encouraged me to reach farther and do more that I had ever thought possible. I watched as people did him wrong and he refused to talk about it or even make reference to it, I knew they were wrong and he knew they were wrong but he refused to blame them, he was constantly looking for a way to fix things not fracture them further. Then there were time I needed to be set straight and corrected and he did not hesitate to do that as well he did it in love but it still stung. I remember one conversation that went like this. My pastor asked me to come into his office, I was maybe 28 or 29 a young preacher with a desire to do great things for God and an ego to match. My pastor sat me down and said "Philip you are the best preacher I have in my church, you have a depth in the Word and a knowledge of the Word" (and I was thinking yes amen you are so right) but then he said "but I can't use you, because you are too prideful" OUCH!! as I sat there I did not know what to do, be angry, yell, tell him that was not so I did not know what to say or do, so I got up and went out to my seat and sat through the rest of church doing a slow burn with no intention of ever coming back. By the time we arrived home I was really mad I thought I was hurt, in reality it was my pride that was hurt how dare he tell the truth! As I sat in our little house licking my self inflicted wounds I made the decision to go back and put down my pride and become all God wanted me to be I am so glad that I did.
Today think about those who care enough to love you despite your self and then call them and let them know.
I love you Pastor Morton my world is a better place because of you.
Pastor Steele
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Roll with it
Well winter has finally arrived in the Kansas City metro.
Pulled out the hat and gloves put on the heavy coat have to start the car and let it warm up, get the ice off the windshield. All of these things are part of living in a place where the weather can change very rapidly. One thing the changing of the seasons has shown me is that people are able to deal with change better than they think they are, it begins to turn cold and we turn up the heat, get the salt and shovels ready bundle the kids up and deal with winter weather, oh we may not like it necessarily but we know that there is nothing we can do about it so we just deal with it.
It has been said that the one constant in life is change, I believe that this is absolutely correct. Having said that I also believe that many people who quote this do not handle change very well at all, the become so set in a certain way of doing that to change it would really mess them up, I have seen people leave churches (including my own), leave jobs, leave relationships all because they were asked to change, to do things different than they were used to and rather than roll with the change they quit and went to a place where change was not required. The problem with this mindset is that the person who will not change never gets better they merely continue in the mode of mediocrity they are currently trapped in and this becomes their life.
Jesus always asked for change, He told the first disciples "Follow Me and I will make you..." in other words follow me and you will change, you will become what you are meant to be. Lets master change. ROLL WITH IT!
Pulled out the hat and gloves put on the heavy coat have to start the car and let it warm up, get the ice off the windshield. All of these things are part of living in a place where the weather can change very rapidly. One thing the changing of the seasons has shown me is that people are able to deal with change better than they think they are, it begins to turn cold and we turn up the heat, get the salt and shovels ready bundle the kids up and deal with winter weather, oh we may not like it necessarily but we know that there is nothing we can do about it so we just deal with it.
It has been said that the one constant in life is change, I believe that this is absolutely correct. Having said that I also believe that many people who quote this do not handle change very well at all, the become so set in a certain way of doing that to change it would really mess them up, I have seen people leave churches (including my own), leave jobs, leave relationships all because they were asked to change, to do things different than they were used to and rather than roll with the change they quit and went to a place where change was not required. The problem with this mindset is that the person who will not change never gets better they merely continue in the mode of mediocrity they are currently trapped in and this becomes their life.
Jesus always asked for change, He told the first disciples "Follow Me and I will make you..." in other words follow me and you will change, you will become what you are meant to be. Lets master change. ROLL WITH IT!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Good Morning!
I am sitting at my desk getting ready for service this morning, I can hear the praise team getting ready for todays service (they are amazing by the way) I am excited and relieved that my beloved Texas Longhorns pulled out a literal last second win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the BIG 12 championship game (HOOK E'M HORNS). I have been thinking today about the way people perceive church, what are their real thoughts, today all across America there will probably be pastors taking their pulpits and using the recent Tiger Woods story as a soap box to teach how money and fame and a big house are not the secret to happiness, while this is certainly true in reality they are using a hurting family to get their point across when the bible gives us the same instruction without tearing a hurting families wounds open for our own need of illustration. My thought is this what if Tiger Woods came to our church? Would he find help for the hurt he is facing? Or would he be disappointed and disillusioned? The plain simple truth is this the Word of God was never intended to berate, beat up, or hammer on people, it was meant to build up, edify, set at liberty and give hope to everyone who hears it.
We should think about the purpose of the Word instead of how we can use the Word to promote our own personal agenda. If people are dong wrong (sinning) for the most part they know it, they are coming to church for help because they are hurting and they are hoping to get the help they need. So today lets focus on helping not badgering, lets build up and edify and remember it is the GOODNESS of God that leads men to repentance.
Pastor Steele
I am sitting at my desk getting ready for service this morning, I can hear the praise team getting ready for todays service (they are amazing by the way) I am excited and relieved that my beloved Texas Longhorns pulled out a literal last second win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the BIG 12 championship game (HOOK E'M HORNS). I have been thinking today about the way people perceive church, what are their real thoughts, today all across America there will probably be pastors taking their pulpits and using the recent Tiger Woods story as a soap box to teach how money and fame and a big house are not the secret to happiness, while this is certainly true in reality they are using a hurting family to get their point across when the bible gives us the same instruction without tearing a hurting families wounds open for our own need of illustration. My thought is this what if Tiger Woods came to our church? Would he find help for the hurt he is facing? Or would he be disappointed and disillusioned? The plain simple truth is this the Word of God was never intended to berate, beat up, or hammer on people, it was meant to build up, edify, set at liberty and give hope to everyone who hears it.
We should think about the purpose of the Word instead of how we can use the Word to promote our own personal agenda. If people are dong wrong (sinning) for the most part they know it, they are coming to church for help because they are hurting and they are hoping to get the help they need. So today lets focus on helping not badgering, lets build up and edify and remember it is the GOODNESS of God that leads men to repentance.
Pastor Steele
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Unexpected Challenges
Well it is finally cold this morning. Here in the midwest so far we have had no winter really to speak of it has been pretty mild, then you get up this morning and it is 19 degrees, whew! what a change. That is how it is at times in our faith walk everything seems to be going so smooth and there are no glitches to speak of, but then one morning you get up and it seems like world war three just broke out challenges seem to be just flying off the shelf at you and you do not know where they came from, or why they are coming. Well, first of all you have done nothing wrong it is just the struggle of faith that you are facing. Secondly, realize that if you were not in faith you would not be facing the struggle, trouble and adversity come because of the Word. Mark 4:15 "And these are they by the wayside, where the Word is sown; but when they have heard, satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts". So the attack is intended to destroy the Word in your heart, to get you to back off and quit working the Word, but I have good gospel news! If you will refuse to back off, back down, cave in or quit you will win every time! This is not a once in a while victory this is a everyday victory.
Recognize the challenge for what it is, an attempt to steal the Word and then stand your ground knowing that you already have the victory and that you cannot be stopped!
Pastor Steele
Recognize the challenge for what it is, an attempt to steal the Word and then stand your ground knowing that you already have the victory and that you cannot be stopped!
Pastor Steele
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Adversity
I have never seen more adversity than the times we are living in right now. Everyone you talk to is going through some pretty tough times. If they are not going through them right now, they have been through them recently. In my particular calling, I deal with these issues a little more than most people and I can tell you people are scared and do not know what to do. Many are throwing up their hands and giving up. Some are trying to just weather the storm while others do no know what to do. But then, there are some who are determined to face their adversity and overcome. Jesus said in John 16:33 "In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer I have overcome the world". This gives us reason to hope. All that we will ever face, every problem we will ever know Jesus faced and defeated for us making it possible for us to over come as well. Focus and meditate on this today and as you do allow the strength of God to rise in your heart and know beyond the shadow of a doubt you can face your adversity and overcome.
Pastor Steele
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
