Pastor B Middle School Grow, My Life, Oakwood, Parent Cue

Pray This For the New Year

As we begin the New Year, Oakwood is beginning 40 days of Prayer to kick things off.

I don’t know about you, but many times, I want to pray, have the desire to grow in my prayer life, but I don’t know exactly what else to pray after about… 30 seconds. I think this problem leads to giving up on connecting with God in this way on a consistent basis. I mean, with all the distractions of raising kids, getting them in the right place with the right things at the right time, sometimes I turn around and realize I missed getting ME in the right place with the right things at the right time. Then we have technology, the game to watch, and oh yea, that source of income is good to invest in as well. It’s not that we don’t want to connect with God that’s the problem. I think its the fact that time is always slipping away through our fingertips. Before you know it, you are laying yourself to sleep and throw up a, “THANK YOU JESUS… FOR MY BED!”

So as not to WASTE TIME, maybe we need to build confidence to use our time WISELY. That is where the question begins to be:

If I’m going to pray, how can I do it right?

You want to do it right? Literally COPY A GREAT PRAYER!

‘And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ‘ Colossians 1:9-14

What better example do we have than Paul and his prayer out of God’s Truth in Colossians?

My challenge for myself for the NEW YEAR is to just PRAY THIS.

I am taking whatever time I have in the morning, after lunch time for a moment, as my mind wanders in the evening, to basically copy and paste most of Paul’s prayer for individuals that come to mind. The easiest way to start is to find those right in front of you. Pray for your family to be filled with Spiritual Wisdom and Understanding. Pray for good works and fruit from God Himself. Ask for strength according to His might. Do you need endurance, patience, and joy anytime soon? How about the consistent reminder that we have a Father through Jesus Christ that delivered us out of darkness and qualified us to be saints in light? Needless to say, I have found my own joy and connection with God as I have used a great prayer guide in Colossians Chapter 1.

HOW ABOUT YOU?

Pastor B Fall, My Life, New Normal Covid-19, Oakwood, Parent Cue, Students

Worried Series – Failure

DO YOU FEEL LIKE A FAILURE TODAY?

As Paul writes to his younger companion, he relays various “trustworthy sayings” to Timothy.

2 Timothy 2

11 The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us;

13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

Trying to paint the picture in my mind, I envision a wise champion of the faith relaying simple truths that may have carried him on his faith journey. We find Paul bringing understanding through strong statements of faith. The certainty of Christ with us and living in His resurrection power. The endurance gained as the eternal perspective of the Kingdom of God will come to reign. Then, right smack in the middle, the divide between our humanity and a Holy God gives comfort in a different way. Our confession with or without Christ results in denial, as we deny Him.

Lastly, a paradox of sorts. “IF WE ARE FAITHLESS,” if WE FAIL, if WE RENIG on our side of the bargain, if WE LOSE SIGHT and miss the mark, WE DO NOT IMPACT THE CONSISTENT, SOLID, BEDROCK of our FAITHFUL CREATOR.

“FOR HE CANNOT DENY HIMSELF.”

As you look at your past, as you remember your failures, put your hope in the one that REMAINS FAITHFUL. Find the same qualities in the Savior that gifted you eternal life from the start. Receive GRACE and REDEMPTION once again. Walk in newness of life, and find confidence again. Don’t worry, He’s got it.

Pastor B Culture, My Life, Oakwood, Parent Cue, Students, Summer

What Monsters Do You Fight?

Check Out Revelaytor Music Here

My friend, Jon the Revelaytor, just released a powerful song that reminds me that I have the ability to fight in the midst of fear.

To be honest, the struggle is real.  Whether somebody is messing with your head, or you have decided a wrong direction due to your own human programming, there seems to be a WAR INSIDE, lying beneath.

It is like you are FIGHTING MONSTERS that only you can see. Sometimes they are the reality of life, and other times, the scars of life seem to become those monsters hiding behind the door, late at night, when you least expect them.

This WAR can get the best of us and lead to extreme consequences.  

  • When we have been wronged, we jump to ANGER to lash out and solve a problem
  • When we see an injustice, protests turn to riots and buildings are burned down
  • When we feel restricted and anxious, we rebell and try to break free of whatever restrictions we are living under

Think about the WAR inside YOU.  How have you seen, living in your very own skin, the extreme reactions and consequences of your actions?

Sometimes the actions we take make us feel like the MONSTER. We feel like something else is controlling our thoughts and actions and can’t find a way out. Paul relates to this struggle inside us in Romans Chapter 7.

“What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise.”

Romans 7:15 MSG

The TRUTH is that we have power in JESUS NAME to find freedom and push back in the fight. The struggles in our daily lives do not have to keep us captive to fear.

Paul goes on to say

“I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.”

Romans 7:24-25

Jesus Christ brings FREEDOM and CONFIDENCE to win the fight. In fact, he is the source of power that gives us the strength to pick up our heads and move forward.

WHAT MONSTERS ARE YOU FIGHTING TODAY?

LOOK TO JESUS FOR THE POWER TO PUSH BACK

Pastor B Culture, My Life, Oakwood, Parent Cue, Students

MUSIC ARTIST – PEABOD

Isaac Peabody, who goes by the stage name Peabod, brings to the Centricity label  (which is home to Lauren Daigle, Jordan Feliz and many more great artists) exciting talent and a unique sound: hip-hop. The 24-year old caught the label’s attention with his independently produced music, an assortment of meticulously crafted rap songs. Peabod puts a new spin on the genre, yielding infectious positivity and wordplay that connect with audiences of all ages.  He is a fun middle school-high school kind of guy that your students will love!

Pastor B Culture, My Life, Oakwood, Parent Cue, Students

FEAR IS NOT FROM GOD.

Building 429 Highlight

Take a Listen to FEAR NO MORE and Read a short word below.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  
– 2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV

I’ll never forget this verse as long as I live because it was the FIRST scripture I remember my mom teaching me when I was a child.  I don’t know why it was the first, but today I would guess that mom knew what I didn’t… that Satan would attack my heart with fear more than anything else in my lifetime.  She would be right even to this day.  I still hear all of the same voices today that I did when I was a child, but thankfully today I understand how to fight the lies so much better.  

  • Nobody loves you
  • Nobody wants you to win
  • They’re all laughing at you
  • God is ashamed of you
  • You’ll never make your parents proud
  • You’ll never be successful at anything

I still hear the same voices, but as my mother used to say: “Sometime’s you’ve got to tell the devil to SHUT UP.” I don’t know what fear you are facing today but this scripture has become bedrock principle in my personal fight with fear. When you feel fear, you can know that it is not God speaking those words into your ears. The mind God has promised you is clear, strong, and more than able to deal with whatever He allows into your life. You can claim that sound mind today. You can do this…. why? Because He said you could. So today choose to walk with the spirit of POWER, LOVE and SOUND MIND.

Original Post Here

Pastor B Culture, My Life, Oakwood, Parent Cue, Spring, Students

Passport 2 Purity Getaway

Passport 2 Purity helps guide you through sessions to begin having conversations with your child about sex and purity in God’s plan.

As we are talking about issues with Purity and Sex in our weekly Middle School environments, I want to be honest with you as a Middle School Parent… I don’t like these talks either! This stuff is personal, and yet we live in a world that entices us to make our personal issues public, while exploiting every bit of them for whatever means are out there. That is a main reason the Oakwood Student Ministry carries that mindset that “SOMETHING MUST BE SAID” in regards to God’s Plan and what we are up against on a daily basis.

The second thing I want you to know is that, even though I am a Pastor in this area, I am still hoping and praying for my own kids to walk rightly in the Lord and choose a life of Purity. That is why Laura and I have been intentional with Katie, as she entered 6th grade, and Noah, as he is midway through 5th grade, to enter into the conversation about sex and God’s view of purity within His plan.

Our advice to you, whether you use this material or not, is to intentionally plan a time that is best for you and your child to have the deep conversations that will direct the future of your child’s sexuality toward Godly Wisdom, rather than the standards brought forth by the culture and worldly views we live in today.

Noah and I Toured the 750 foot tall Tower of the Americas during our Passport 2 Purity Getaway.

By the way, my time with Noah was not ALL SERIOUS stuff! I’m not that boring and he can’t stay still for that long. We planned a Spurs Game outing, ate tons of pancakes at IHOP, played games at Dave and Buster’s, and enjoyed some one-on-one time together. Yes, we shared deep things dealing with the purity issues of today, but we also connected in a way that will set up an ongoing conversation in the days to come. That, in my mind, is priceless.

Laura and I recommend Passport 2 Purity and the Family Life Ministry, because we know we need tools to help launch us into this teenage phase of life. We hope and pray that all our Middle School Parents have the opportunity to do the same, because we have already seen the positive impact.

If you are interested in the materials, click on the image and links below:

Click Here for the Family Life Shopping Website