“Habakkuk deals with the questions that come up when someone really believes God, yet looks around them and the world doesn’t seem to match up with how God wants it.”

Ever feel that way in the moment when you believe God’s Word where it says that if you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains? It makes me wonder if anybody is actually praying based on what you see on the news. If 75+% of us are believers, can God’s people can actually move mountains? If so, why are we in such political turmoil? If God’s people can move mountains, why are their still hungry people in the U.S.? And why do people still suffer?

Those are great questions. They are honest questions. I ask them often.

I think God’s Word through Habakkuk gives us some perspective on this. Habakkuk prays a similar prayer that my heart longs for in chapter 3 verse 2:

Lord, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.

This is what I want. I want revival in our land. I want unity among the citizens of our great nation. I want God to do again today what I’ve heard he has done in the past! God answered Habakkuk’s prayer. But, probably not how Habakkuk dreamt the best way would be. Habakkuk prayed that prayer a few years before the nation of Israel and city of Jerusalem came under attack from Babylon when the citizens became captives for 70 years. They were in spiritual decline which cause them to be a weak and un-unified people. What God knew and Habakkuk learned is that the people had to hit rock bottom before they were in a place to put God at the top of the nation again. I do not want you to lose hope for the U.S.ofA. when I say this. I am also not endorsing us to speed along this process. Do not go out and vote for, what in your mind, would be the worst candidate for president to help our nation along.

What I am saying is, “Look for the opportunity.” Individually, there are people around us who have hit rock bottom in the recent past. They are looking for hope. Give them a handout. Help them up in this moment. You may just see God’s fame come to life in the life of the person standing next to you. I don’t know what you believe, but let me tell you this: New life, life change, the moving of the Holy Spirit conversion of lives happens everyday in our great nation. It happens everyday in the halls of our public schools. The Holy Spirit is alive and well and is changing hearts and lives daily. Don’t believe me, reach out and I will share stories.

So pray. Seek God’s face. And be on the look out for an opportunity to bring God’s fame and share His deeds with someone who is looking.

Peace,

Brad Schelling

“Having a life verse is one of the most powerful tools I know for simplifying your life.”
Bill Hybels, page 223 in his book “Simplify”.

I’ve had one for a while; one that I enjoyed because of its implied challenge to a crowd, “What is 1 John 3:16?” Many would quote John 3:16 in response. But I centered my vocational call out of 1 John 3:16 which states, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” It was during a college retreat that I found that verse and have spent the next 21 years of my life trying to stay focused on laying down my life for teenagers who are looking for direction in life. I want to give that to them through a relationship with myself and other Christian adults who are willing to share life with them.

It was during a class in the spring of 2015 that I read Bill Hybel’s book, “Simplify”. There was nothing profound in the book, just basic fundamentals of Christian living. It was all good stuff that reminded me of life with Jesus. In the midst of the reading, he challenged us to have a Life Verse. This is not something that should have rocked me since I already had a verse. But I felt it was time to, as my wife says about various things, “Upgrade to a new model.” So, I began thinking about it. I came to this:

Lord, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2

Why? I think this season of life for me personally to stop trying and a time to start seeking. I saw and experienced seeking in my first ministry job. I was a part of a network of Sr. Pastors (as a youth pastor) who shared pulpits, served the poor, and cared deeply for each other. I saw healing and life transformation in the community. But I didn’t stay there. I think it is time to go back. A few years back my wife and I set some lofty personal goals. We set out to graduate seminary (done), adopt a child (done – well the adoption is done, the life training is in it’s toddler stages…!), and achieve a financial milestone (done). Upon completion of those achievements, we deliberately said we didn’t want to jump directly into the next thing. So we’ve been waiting and talking about what season would be for us. Bill says it like this, “Don’t rush the process – take time to discern which verse would best act as a lighthouse for you, calling you back to God’s desires for your life.” (Page 224).

I think that is what Habakkuk does for me. It calls me back to God’s desire for me: to simply seek Him, remember His deeds, and pray for them to return to my life, my family, my community, state and nation. I will admit that even though I’ve had this verse on my mind for about a year now, I have not taken it internally. It is time. Pray with me:

Lord, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2

Peace,

Brad Schelling

The only way to bring HOPE to America Hope. A word that in our physical world simply implies a desire
for a set outcome, expectation or desire to happen. In the spiritual sense, it is a longing inside of us that is often left unfulfilled. As believers in Jesus, we know that that longing for hope can only be fulfilled [forever] by having a relationship with Christ. Sure, we can hope to have a great vacation which can lead to a good time with family. But we all know that the hope is lost the first morning back at work/school when you are exhausted and back to the routine of life. In America, we are hearing that there is a decline in Christianity. My opinion is that the decline is not as great as the stats say, but that more people are being honest in claiming the title ‘Christian’. Being a Christian is not as socially acceptable as it once was.
Why claim something you were only on the fringe about anyway if it could potentially hurt social status? With this honesty comes opportunity! An opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with those that have never heard. With fewer claiming the title, it is easier to have the conversation of repentance and HOPE found in Jesus Christ. We need to realize that not all students who grow up in church even know what the Good News of Jesus is. They may have heard the stories of David, Daniel, Moses, Christmas, Abraham, and Easter, but they are not guaranteed to understand that Jesus came, died on the cross, rose, and desires a relationship with them.What if we took the 45% of students who still call themselves Christian in Birmingham, AL or the 12% of students who call themselves Christian in Riverside, CA and help them share HOPE with those that have never heard? Even with only 12%, they are one of the largest, if not THE largest group of people at the school. Let’s help them be the most influential. As adults, we cannot step onto the school campus and preach Jesus, but students can. So what can we do? We can pray. We can coach students. We can know the law. We can adopt a school. We can provide insight into the community. The best thing we can do is promote unity as the body of Christ! How can the LGBT be so influential with less than 2% of the population claiming the lifestyle? Unity. Let’s unite the local body of Christ with a plan of action to influence your school with the Gospel.

Peace,

Brad Schelling

I learned a lesson at the expense of someone’s face. Great lessons are learned when you are a kid. It just takes adulthood to remind you of the lessons you learn. When I was in sixth grade I was sitting in the back of the classroom with a friend of mine name Chris. I think the back row is where they put all the really smart people, at least that’s what I like to tell myself. Our teacher was up there in front of the class explaining stuff you learn in sixth grade. Algebra, trigonometry, something to that effect. It was probaly more like “see spot run”. Chris and I were not interested in what ever she was saying but more interested in spitting spit wads in the back of Trish’s hair. I was a child of the big hair movement and Trisha was a trendsetter. We were having so much fun because Trisha could not feel all the spit wads that we had managed to get in her big hair. Everyone that was behind her was having a hard time listening to our teacher. We had managed to spit the constellations in the back of her head without her even knowing it. It was getting very comical when all of a sudden our teacher quit talking. You know what that means, we are caught! Our teacher’s face became very red, vains popped out of her neck and it actually looked like steam was coming out her ears. As our teacher was staring us down, she asked us what we were doing. I told her we were making a chart of the stars. By this time Trish noticed all the spit wads in her hair, which only made matters worse. I knew life as I had known it was over. I knew what was about to take place. See, when I was a kid, you did not get a time out. There was no such thing as detention they only knew one thing and that was the big paddle. The principal of the school was not there to run the school; his job was to beat kids. The bigger and meaner the principal the better behaved the school. I was about to get it and get it three times. One from the teacher, one from the principal and one from my dad when I got home. The teacher looked at Chris and I and told us to get out in the hall. As the class sat there in silence except for Trisha who was crying and making things worse, we got up from our chairs and made our way to the classroom door. On our way to the door, our teacher jumps up from her desk storms over to the door, she grabs the door knob, and in a fit of what I thought to be rage, she flings the door open as hard as she could, I guess to make a point. She did! At the same time she flung the door open at 90 mph., there happened to be this poor kid running down the hall at 80mph. The sound of those to elements meeting at the same moment in time was incredible. This guys face creamed into the back of the door stopping him dead in his tracks. He fell backwards and was knocked out cold. I know you are thinking that is awful, but to a 12 year old kid it had to be one of the funniest things I had ever seen. While our teacher is trying to wake this guy up, Chris and I are doing our best not to laugh up a lung. Have you ever been in one of those situations where you want to laugh, but are not supposed to? That is exactly where we found ourselves. The pressure on my vocal cords was so bad that sweat is running down my face and I am trying to think of every bad thing that has ever happened to me.What made everything worse was that our entire classroom is trying to figure out what that loud noise was. As soon as a trickle of sound came out of Chris’s nostril I lost it. We could not stop laughing. After the kid finally woke up, we were headed toward what I remember as the worst paddling of my childhood. The lesson that was learned that day would not be realized for years to come. The only thing I remember learning that day was to pay attention to my teacher and not laugh so hard. As I grew older there is something there that is so true. Everything you do, and everything you say not only affects you but other people as well. My attitude and my mischievous actions affected my teacher’s attitude. She was ticked off! Her attitude and anger affected some poor innocents kids face! The way we act, and the way we talk gets to people. Everybody has been in a situation were you were in a good mood and then someone did something to change it or even the other way around. People affect other people. You and I have heard for years things like, “you catch more fly’s with honey than vinegar”, “What goes around comes around”,  “You reap what you sow”…etc. These saying all come from God’s principals. I have learned that most people will be nice to you if you are nice to them. I have also learned that my actions not only affect me but the people I am around. I also have learned that God put certain people in our lives to point us toward Him. Their actions and words get to us. Are these people perfect? Of course not, but the part they play in our lives are so important. I thank God for the people like my youth pastor and others who allowed God to use their actions and words to affect me.

Keep Fishing,

Mark Roberts

Romans 12:2 – “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Most teenagers are just trying to fit in or be accepted. I like most was no exception. My biggest fear was to be left out or feel indifferent. Nobody wants people starring at them. Have you ever left something on top of your car? You drive down the road and everybody seems to be looking at you. People are pointing and you not knowing what to do just wave back. What is really bad is when you go to a fast food place and buy a milkshake and accidentally leave it on top of your car. When you get to a stoplight and stop the milkshake comes down on your window and you think to yourself that that was a huge bird. Most of us try so hard to be accepted; we spend hours making ourselves presentable to others. When you are
a teenager, you go to bed at night and clean your face. You pray your face stays clear through the night. You awake, go look in the mirror and discover that while you slept a volcano has erupted between
your eyes. Panic sets in as you envision your day at school. You try ever means available to cover this eruption with little success. You spend your day worried that everyone who sees you only sees
the new volcano. I went though this many times and for days I would wipe my face with what I thought was zit medicine. I keep thinking to myself that these did not smell like the last patch I had.
One day I decide I should read what I had been putting on my face.I soon discovered that what had gone on my face was not pimple medicine but tucks, for hemorrhoid flare up. I just want you know
that I did not have one hemorrhoid on my face. Most people, like myself, are so caught up in worrying about what people think we miss the most important things. The only time it seemed I searched for truth was when I was in trouble or I was alone with my thoughts.

Be conformed today. Transform your mind to see yourself how God sees you. You are important. You are His hands and feet. Continue reaching those around you with HOPE of Christ!

Keep Fishing,

Mark Roberts

“Our most powerful prayers are hyperlinked to the promises of God. When you know you are praying the promises of God, you can pray with holy confidence.” (page 93 of The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson.)

Will you pray with me?

When I have doubt that the ministry that I am doing is going anywhere…
None of God’s promises in the Bible ever fail. It’s in the Bible, Joshua 23:14, ESV. “…Not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.”

When I see schools closing the doors to conversation about God…
“But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Luke 18:27, NKJV.

When I have doubt that helping students share the gospel at school is working…
“so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11

When my heart wanders…
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26, NKJV.

When I am stressed and worried…
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV.

If you search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me. “You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (WEB). Seek God with all your heart today. A friend told me yesterday that reputable business men often take an hour a day to read and grow themselves in their trade. The principle is the same here. Let’s take some time together and seek God. He is our promise. He is our path. He is our goal. He is our everything. Pray through his Word today.

Peace,

Brad Schelling

God is Good! James 1:16-17 “Do not be deceived my beloved brethren. Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.”

I spent most of my teenage years thinking God was trying to make me some goof. I soon found out that if you are some goof, you did that all by yourself, God did not have anything to do with it. Stop blaming Him. He is good. We all like good stuff, and it comes from God. It is amazing how we are deceived. We always seem to blame God for the bad when nothing bad can come from God, because God is Good. It amazes me when I look back at my life and see the times I got frustrated and mad at God because He, I thought, was the reason for my misfortune. I have since learned that most of the problems in my life are a result of some stupid decision I made along the way. I, maybe like you, thought God was just a cosmic cop who does not want me to have any fun in life, but that is totally the opposite. Everything fun and good comes from Him. Lets quit looking in the wrong place.

Keep Fishing,

Mark Roberts

Did God say, “No”?

“100% of the prayers I don’t pray won’t get answered.” Mark Batterson

Busted.

Excerpt From: Andy Stanley. “Making Vision Stick.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/EC_gx.l

“While in graduate school, I had a professor who was fond of saying, “If the student hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught.” The same could be said of leadership and casting vision. We are the keepers and purveyors of the vision. If the people around us don’t know where we are going, it’s because we haven’t made it clear. Instead of casting stones, we need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves: How can I make the vision clearer? Simpler? More accessible? What can I do to make it stick? How do I drive this vision down into every level of the organization?”

Whether you run a ministry or a business, people (costumers) need to know who you are and what you sale. If you are in the ministry you have the greatest sales item in the world which is the gospel. You also have a great “Closer” in The Holy Spirit. We also have the greatest salesman in the world as our guide, his name is the Apostle Paul. I think sometimes we forget that we sale Christ, and we push Hope, and we push life abundantly. That is the greatest and most humbling opportunity that we have and most of the time we make it complicated. The fact is that the Gospel is simple and the vision and commision Jesus gave us are very clear. The great teacher Jesus has taught us well. He told us and demonstrated for us to love God and love people. If we do that then people will know our mission and vision, because Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Keep Fishing!

Mark Roberts