
Posts Tagged ‘christian’
Is My Daddy in Heaven?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged boy, catholic, christian, dad, daddy, grace, heaven, hell, Jesus, mercy, pope, question, salvation, talking on April 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »

However, this is not the answer the pope gave. The short answer was that even if the father never had the “gift of faith”, he did have his son’s baptized which means he was a good dad. He said only God knows who goes to heaven so if this man with a dad’s heart came face to face with God who has a dad’s heart, do you think that God would not let him come into heaven. The crowd yelled “no” and the pope said “Well, there’s your answer.”
My first response was to fact check the video. Here the pope is not speaking in English so I figured someone had added subtitles to make him say something he was not saying. I was saddened to find that this is not the case.
What the pope taught here is simply wrong and dangerous. Why? Because it is contradicts the Bible and if people believe it, they could completely miss heaven and a relationship with Jesus thinking that they are good and that’s what it takes.
Look at what the Bible says…..
“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Mark 10: 17-18
How to Make Decisions Well
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged advisors, Bible, choice, choices, christian, counsel, counselor, decision, friend, life, making, parents, pastor, peers, pressure, proverbs 15, teenager on August 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »
“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” – Proverbs 15:22
Life can be hard to navigate and it seems to always be changing. What felt right yesterday is now disjointed. The plans we have been holding onto for years shift to new possibilities. Part of living this life is making decisions and trying to navigate some kind of unseen path in front of us.
The Bible tells us a simple but profound truth that is key to moving forward in success. Wise counsel can make all the difference a tomorrow that is full of freedom instead of pain.
At the same time, I see many people skipping this step and just trying to figure things out for themselves. We are raised to be mature adults and take care of ourselves but this often leads to us making life-changing moves with no more insight than our own.
Keep in mind, I’m talking wise counsel not people trying to control you or make your decisions for you. However, we all make better decisions in life with additional insight and knowledge.
With this established, I want to share a handful of people that may be in your life that you can go to for wise counsel. It can make all the difference.
Your parents – I realize that not all of us have caring and mature parents but many of us do. If you are blessed in this area, lean into the benefit of that gift.
Good parents have decades of life experience you do not have yet (especially if you are in your teens through your thirties). Good parents would happily die in the place of their children and want nothing but the best for them. Good parents would love to give you wise counsel for your next steps.
Licensed Counselors – While I do admit that finding a good counselor takes a little effort, I don’t understand why others fight this one so much (usually it’s a pride issue). We all go through times in our lives, marriages, families and the like where we just don’t know how to move forward. A trained counselor can help give new tools to add to your options.
When we have a physical need, we don’t hesitate calling in the doctor (if you want to be healthy). We shouldn’t be so resistant to getting professional help.
Your pastor – Speaking of professional help, I am amazed how many people come to me to share they have made a huge decision in their life (especially spiritually) but did not come at any point to discuss it during the process of coming to that point.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an ego filled, control freak but there have been many times someone is laying out a decision they have made and there are warning signs left and right in it. Then they add in the words “God has laid it on my heart to do this.”
The challenge is it is a tougher conversation at that point than if they said “Here’s where things seem to be pointing, what do you think?”. Sometimes the door is not open for any conversation at all. Often times the plans stumble and fall and I see good people get hurt.
Many pastors want God’s best for you. Many pastors have a couple decades of experiences not just from their life but the lives they work with. Many pastors know more than you do about some of the issues you are working with the impressions of. Many pastors know the Bible well and can advise as such. Pastors also don’t have the emotion in the situation that you do that sometimes clouds our judgment in life.
People you want to be like – If you are making a decision in a particular area of your life, find someone who you respect that are doing well in that area. If it’s financial, talk to someone who is doing well in their stewardship. If it’s physical, find someone who moved into a healthier lifestyle be making new decisions. If it’s spiritual, go to someone who is spiritually mature and following God.
The truth is that we (like teenagers) often go to peers who are at the same place in life as we are. Humans tend to have views on everything and happy to share them. However, that is not the same as wise counsel.
People who are in the same place of life that you are tend to make lousy leaders for you. Take the time to find someone a little further up the path.
The Bible – Wait! What? Why is this last on the list?
It’s not. It is the list.
You should start, stay in, and come back to the Bible for counsel. “Wise” counsel matches up with the Bible each and every time. You can get advice from Christians (and yes, non-Christians) but it all needs to be held up to the light of the Bible to see if it matches up.
There are those who will get ahead in this life with worldly wisdom for a season but a long-term blessed life comes from wisdom that matches the Word of God.
Emotions and shortcuts lead us to muck and mire. Wise counsel helps us to succeed. If I can help you in any way, let me know. It’s the least I can do with all the wise counsel others have given to me who are further down the road than I am.
Blessings!
Pastor Tom Hypes
tsflife.com
Trey Pearson, Homosexuality, and the Church
Posted in Bible Study, Uncategorized, tagged Bible, christian, church, closet, conservative, everyday, gay, GLBT, GLBTQ, homosexuality, LGBT, LGBTQ, liberal, pearson, sin, Sunday, trey on June 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »
As many of you know, Trey Pearson of the Christian music group, Everyday Sunday came “out of the closet” yesterday. Once you get into social media, there is a firestorm of commentators from every side of the conversation spitting out Bible verses to support their personal feelings and beliefs. The sad part is, for the most part, they are taking verses out of context and painting conflicting and sometimes hateful pictures.
So, with this in mind, I thought I would dig out this study we did a little while back at digs into the topic in an honest and complete manner. Enjoy!
“This is not your normal sermon on homosexuality….
`Few topics divide the world and the church like homosexuality. For that matter, few things divide the church like the same topic.
The issues within the GLBT community effect our politics, views, and most of all… personal lives. Many have been hurt, driven to anger or just fall away over past hurts and experiences and the divide deepens.
At The Shepherd’s Fellowship, we believe in 100% love and 100% truth. Can this also apply to the conversation of homosexuality? Be part of our study and see what you find as we dig into a hot button but critical study.”
Don’t Stray from the Nest
Posted in Bible Study, Uncategorized, tagged abandoned, bird, Christ, christian, church, empty, God, help, Holy, hurt, hurting, Jesus, Lost, love, me, Proverbs, Proverbs 27:8, salvation, sin, spirit, spiritual, spitiualy, starving, struggling on March 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Have you ever found a baby bird that had fallen from it’s nest and tried to nurse it to a healthy life? It’s possible but not easy.
Once the baby bird has lost it’s way, often times the mother bird abandons it to the elements, leaves it unprotected from predators, and suffers it to starve for provision.
It reminds me of a proverb in the Bible. Proverbs is a collection of sayings from King Solomon who had asked God for wisdom which is displayed in these eternal truths.
As I skimmed through Proverbs 27, I came across verse 8 that says….
“Like a bird that strays from it’s nest is a man who strays from his home.”
Often times, people find themselves feeling like they have fallen out of the nest. They are lost, exposed, and hurting with similar feelings to the baby bird fallen to the ground.
As I did a quick study of some of the reasons birds stray from their nest, it struck me that it’s similar of how people stray from home (a life with Christ).
Weather – Storms and unexpected wind currents often times will knock a young bird right out of it’s home in the same way the storms of this life can do to us. A move, job loss, family member passing, addiction and other challenges leave us feeling lost and beaten.
Inexperience – Juvenile birds making their first migration without the lead of a mature bird often times undershoot or overshoot their destinations. Sometimes, we too head boldly on a path without instruction, mentorship, or God’s map to find where He was leading us all along.
Wanderers – Some types of birds have been known to simply be wanderers and undertake destinations that are not within their normal environments. In the same way, we sometimes look for places that are not ours but it just seems the “grass is greener on the other side”. These situations can show up as marital affairs, shortcuts that lead to failure in the work place, or going against God’s ways to obtain something we want in the moment.
Whatever the reason, falling out of the “nest” leaves us feeling just as hungry, lonely, and abandoned as the infant robin alone on the ground. However, the good news is God does not abandon us there like a mama bird does to her young. He is just a whisper away willing to offer you forgiveness, direction and provision when you lean back into Him to find mercy and grace abounds!
In Matthew 23: 37, Jesus refers to himself as a mother hen who longs to gather her chicks (you and me) under her wings (for protection, love, and care) but that often times, we are unwilling.
Will you choose to not “stray” but “stay” with the Lord? Trust me, it’s much better in the nest.
Pastor Tom Hypes
theshepherdsfellowship.org
(If you have a topic you would like Pastor Tom to blog about, feel free to drop all ideas to tom@theshepherdsfellowship.org)
Hurtful Words
Posted in Bible Study, Uncategorized, tagged backstabber, christian, christians, conversation, encourage, encourager, gossip, heart, hurt, hyprocrite, lips, mean, Provers 15, talk, words on January 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,but the mouths of fools pour out folly.”
Proverbs 15: 1-2
“A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4
“The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools.” Proverbs 15:7
“The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but gracious words are pure.” Proverbs 15: 26
“The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.” Provers 15: 28
“The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.” Proverbs 15: 33
A small sampling from Proverbs 15 reminds us how powerful words are. We may still remember the chant “stick and stones may break my bones” but we know words have more power than we wish they held. We are losing the art of gentle words in our culture and at times, even in the life of Christians and the church.
If you find you are having a problem with your words, may I suggest a few things…
– Understand it’s a heart issue
Sometimes we try to justify ourselves by saying “That’s just who I am” or “I’m just like my mom (or dad)” and continue on. While we can have in our personalty certain tendencies that lead us to be critical or negative, it doesn’t mean it’s ok. Your words still alienate, separate, and crush others at times. If we roll with our earthly tendencies and don’t work them into submission to God’s ways, we continue a cycle that impacts others and ourselves.
– Understand you are hurting others
You might think you are direct and others should appreciate it but I can’t tell you how many people come to me for life counseling because the anger, hurt, or weight they are feeling because of someone in their life dumping on them in unloving ways (again, often times Christians).
If you find that you enjoy the emotional release of unloading on others, there’s a good chance you are hurting them.
If you find that you enjoy talking about frustrations and grips with others to people other than the ones you struggle with, there’s a good chance you are hurting the person outside the loop and the one within it.
If you find that you need to tear others down to build yourself up, your just hurting everyone including how others see you.
– Understand things can turn around
You have the chance to earn others seeing you different. You may not be aware but you may have some nicknames you would rather not know about. However, by following the proverbs above, you can be know as an “encourager”!
Some of the words above can be foreign to us in our speech … soft, gentle, and pure. However, through discipline, taking a breath and speaking with the Spirit’s lead; you too can be righteous and ponder what words (and heart) to embrace. It just starts with humbling yourself, leaning into the ways of God and letting Him raise you up.
Words lead to broken marriages. Words lead to split churches. Words lead to failed friendships. Words lead to insecurity and loss.
Words lead to freedom. Words brings unity. Words heal old wounds. Words have power.
Use yours in the light of the Christ to honor Him and love others.
If we can help you with this in any way, please let us know.
Prayers and Blessings,
Pastor Tom Hypes
theshepherdsfellowship.org