RADIO: What We're Saying on the Radio in Aug/Sept!

HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF
This is Pastor Jay at Promise Church. I grew up in New Orleans and have spent most of my life there. Like many of you, as I watch the TV I ask myself what can I do to help. That’s why Promise Church is partnering with the Jackson Area Association of Realtors to provide assistance to the thousands of refugees from the Gulf Coast. We are collecting many items that will be distributed at a sister church in Baton Rouge, Lousisiana serving now as a relief center. For information on what you can give and how you can help, please go to our website – www.promisechurch.info or call 664-LIFE.

What is Love?
How could someone show you the greatest love? Would they send you flowers? Would they take you to a movie? Would they invite you over to dinner? Would they help you in your time of need? Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” And Jesus meant it. He loved us so much that he gave his life, so that we might have life. Abundant life. Life to the full. This is Pastor Jay at Promise Church, we invite you to explore that life of love with us. Check us out on the web at www.promisechurch.info or drop by on Sunday mornings at 10:30 at 935 Old Humboldt Road.

What is Church?
Church is a place for worship. Church is a place for learning. Church is a place being around people you love. But you know what church is most of all? It’s a family. Did you know that when the church first started two thousand years ago, it grew by leaps and bounds because people found a new spiritual family that loved and accepted them no matter where they came from or what they had done. It was a family that would not disappoint. It was a family centered completely in the love of Jesus. Are you looking for a spiritual family? This is Pastor Jay at Promise Church. Check us out on Sunday mornings at 10:30 at 935 Old Humboldt Road and experience the joy of a family that loves you no matter what.

Count Your Blessings
Okay, everyone take a deep breath. Inhale and now exhale. Take a moment – right now - just for yourself to relax. Think to yourself what you love about your life. Think about friends who love and care about you. Think about the children in your life you look up to you and who adore you. Think about a spouse with whom you share a life. Take a moment and take inventory of all the things God has given you THIS DAY to enjoy life. Isn’t it just amazing what God has done for us? This is Pastor Jay at Promise Church. My prayer for us this day is simply that we will all take a moment, see the good in our lives, and offer brief thanks to a God who loves us more than we could ever imagine.

What is Faith?
You know there was a time I had given up on God. I came to a place in my life where I thought my prayers were just words spoken into the air and there was no one really listening. And here’s the truly amazing thing. Even though I was angry and had let go of God, God continued to bless and strengthen me, even – at the time – I didn’t see it. This is Pastor Jay at Promise Church. So many of us have given up on God and religion and church. Some feel that God just doesn’t listen. I’d like to invite you to join us on Sunday morning at 10:30 at 935 Old Humboldt Road to see just how God is present and loving, and cares for us deeply. Hang in there. God is still working in your life.

PROMPTINGS: Logic Chopping

One of the things I appreciate about my philosophy education at dear old Texas A&M University was being taught the ability to draw important distinctions about things. We were taught to take every bit of our experience as human beings and give it a name, describe how it works, and fit it within a larger system of belief. The true test of the philosopher, we were taught, was the ability to defend your system of belief against critique. And so, we built our “philosophies” to be water-tight – able to withstand evidence brought against it, able to interpret new evidence in light of it. John Dewey, the great American philosopher referred to this as one’s “web of belief.”

It’s been of some interest to me as I’ve met so many people from so many different backgrounds how some of the same principles we were taught at the A&M philosophy department have found themselves deeply implanted in how we treat our faith life. We grow up in a church or were saved in a particular church and that church teaches us much about the faith. As we experience new things in the Spirit we assimilate those new experiences into what we’ve already been taught. And when the experience is too different from what we’re accustomed to, we resemble the honeymooners coming home from their vacation jumping on top of their suitcases trying to make all the stuff “fit” inside as we try to zip up our “faith suitcase” nice and tight.

There’s something about our little “faith suitcase” that makes us feel comfortable. It gives us identity. We know who WE are in contrast to THEM. It allows us to interpret them. It allows us to feel some measure of control over them. If only THEY were more like US, using the same language we use, seeing the world in the same way, behaving like us, worshipping like us, dressing like us, etc…. wouldn’t the world be a better place?

But that wasn’t Jesus’s point of view.

The apostles had a contest once about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Presumably, they discussed and argued and picked each other apart over who had the most knowledge, who had the best relationship with their Master, who “got it” and who didn’t.

Jesus sensed their arguing among themselves. I imagine even that he was a little perturbed that yet again, his disciples had missed the point completely. And he told them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35).

To Jesus, it was obvious that the path to salvation had nothing to do with how well we were able to “tithe mint and cumin”**, or how knowledgeable we were of our “system” of belief, or even how many sophisticated spiritual words and phrases we could fit into a sentence. To Jesus, the Master and Teacher, the WAY of LIFE was radical servanthood.

You can spend your entire life trying to figure out “who’s in” and “who’s out”. You can begin living like Jesus today.







**Mt 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."

PROMPTINGS: Too busy to...

One of the badges of honor we sometimes wear on our lapels is our "busy-ness." Ask someone how they're doing and nine times out of ten the response is "Fine, but I'm sooooo busy!" We have made busy-ness in our culture a symbol of self-worth with the personal evaluation going something like this… if you're busy you must be in demand by others and so be worth a lot. If you're not "busy" you must not be in demand and so are worth little.

Jesus went through periods of "busy-ness" with crowds pressing against him seeking healing. But ask Jesus how he was doing and I can't imagine him saying, "Things are busy!" In fact, Jesus took time, important time, to retreat from the pressing crowds and spend time with God.

Some in our culture might view that as a huge waste of time. Some of US might reveal similar attitudes about alone time with God if made to show our PDA calendars! Christians talk a big talk about prayer, but if you're like me, prayer gets pushed to the side of the schedule for just about any other activity. A phone call MUST be returned right now! I'll pray AFTER I get back from the gym. I'll say a QUICK prayer on my way to lunch with a client. Deep, intimate prayer with God is not something that we miss, until… well, until we realize that our busy-ness doesn't really have anything to do with our self-worth. In fact, our mad rush to get things done seems to take away from any sense that I have a spiritual center.

I read of a pastor of a three thousand member church whose attitude was that he would work only 40 hours a week… and 35 of those 40 hours were spent in prayer. WOW! You mean that a pastor… a gospel teacher… someone who gives pastoral care and is on call 24/7… someone responsible for the "business" of the church would find the time… indeed MAKE the time to be alone with God? Imagine that!

What has happened to those who have been called to a vocation of prayer? Are we listening to the song of the Psalmist who sings, "Be still… and know that I am God." I wonder if we can ever know God WITHOUT first being still. This means pushing the PDA and Day-timer to the side… turning OFF the cell-phone… sitting in a quiet place in your home where you won't be distracted and just speaking to God.

I have to confess that I'm fortunate. The Ministry Center at Promise Church is a perfect prayer spot. It's quiet, with just enough natural light that I can be still… and pray… and be in the presence of God. It's awesome! It's beautiful! It is centering and healing to be before God in complete quiet. It's enough to make me desire deeply to spend as much time in the presence of God as I possibly can and to put aside the "busy-ness" of church work. My thoughts become crystal clear and I can hear, sometimes faintly, other times loudly the voice of God declaring His purpose for my life, providing me with incredible strength and vision for my God-given purpose and calling. Ahhh, you say, but in a world where there are so many demands, so much hurt, so much work that presses in on me, so much to "do"... is all that prayer a responsible use of one's time?

You tell me.

God bless,