Category Archives: grow

God is FOR you

04 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by in comfort, grow

≈ 5 Comments

Life struggles are inevitable. And as the year 2020 comes to a close, challenges continue to emerge at new levels of difficulty every day. You’re not alone in asking God to deliver you from the troubles that have been making regular appearances in your life. 

This year, many of you have planted a mustard seed of faith, been spiritually tested, clung on to hope for dear life, or even dug deeper into your Bible devotional time. Does it feel like you’ve stepped out in faith and are waiting for God to part the Red Sea? I know what it’s like to be on the brink of disaster, trusting God to come through. But getting a miracle like the parting of the Red Sea is not the only way God can deliver you from your burdens. In fact, I believe the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea, found in Exodus 14, is just one of three common methods God uses to liberate His people.

Here are two more ways that God may be redeeming your current situation …

  1. Inner Change: God may very well be allowing the circumstances in your life to draw you closer to Him and build your faith. There are certainly times when God uses the harsh circumstances in our lives as an opportunity to work on our character. In your quiet time, is God giving you a new vision, attitude, or perspective? Be encouraged that God WILL help you navigate the situation that you find yourself in. While the circumstances may not be changing, He may be changing YOU. Personal deliverance is coming and available when we let God move in us, and not just around us. 
  2. The Promise of Heaven: The ultimate deliverance is salvation through Jesus Christ! While God has not promised to solve ALL of our problems the way we think they ought to be solved, He has provided a way for us to be reunited with Him. This time of year we celebrate the coming of our Savior, Jesus. God may very well be giving you a deeper appreciation of His gift of salvation through Jesus’ coming, death, and resurrection. In heaven, there will be NO pain, NO sorrow, NO heartache, NO lockdowns, and NO suffering, anymore! 

For those of you who have been walking the faith journey for a while, you can look back and recognize the seasons that God has parted the Red Sea, produced Inner Change, AND/OR reminded you to look forward to the ultimate gift of heaven. While stepping out in faith is a great act of obedience, maybe God isn’t calling you into the sea right now. Spend some time asking God if He is redeeming your situation in a different method than you expected. 

Some of you are new to building a strong faith and trusting Jesus. The year 2020 may have presented some “stones of remembrance” for you like in Joshua 4:1-7. I want to encourage you to write down any trying circumstances you’re going through. In time you will have personal evidence to look back on, that proves that God got you through some really difficult times. 

Whether you’ve been on the Christian journey for a day, weeks, months, years, or decades, our God is FOR YOU. Our God is a redemptive God that has plans to prosper us! We can see His character in Joel 2:25-32, that He is a good God that wants to restore the years taken from us, and instead give us satisfaction. 

While the world is hoping for the best, we can rest in the fact that Jesus is our best hope!

MODEL

30 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by in Church, grow, vision

≈ 3 Comments

What does it look like to have a model faith? I’m not talking about a perfect faith. The faith journey is never one of perfection, but it should be one of progress. I’m talking about a way to practically model faith. Can you envision it?

My vision of a model faith is like a North Star. It doesn’t mean you’re there already, but it means there’s something that guides us and it’s something to look towards. I’ve told you this before, I’m a goal setter. I have about 10 categories for all the goals I’m setting out to accomplish … to be a better husband, dad, pastor, golfer (sometimes it’s more wishful thinking) but … it’s a very long list. Will I achieve them all? I certainly hope so!
By definition, a vision is: The future state of what you want to accomplish over time.

As a church we have a very clear vision. We’ve talked about it regularly all year long. Our vision is to become a model church in serving, caring, loving, and reaching our community in producing Champions for Christ. At the beginning of 2020, I asked God for a word of the year for our church. I wish I could say it was … COVID, Slam Diego, or something prophetic … but no, I didn’t know what 2020 would bring. The word God gave me was “model.” I want us to be a model church. A church that others come to with questions on how to bring the Gospel to more people!  We often ask, “What would the model church do in this situation?” It guides us like a North Star. 

Throughout the pandemic, we haven’t lost sight of our North Star. In fact, we have studied the COVID virus to ensure the safety of our community, we’ve connected with our people in a daily devotional called Today Matters, worshipped in person and online, served and blessed our first responders, held prayer meetings to pray for our governmental leaders, cleaned up various areas in our community, seen over 600 people make decisions to follow Christ, and even sent out a new church plant. All of this during a season where churches chose to close and remain closed for 8 months now. God doesn’t stop the kingdom advancing when the world decides to stop. 

We reopened in person services in June and found a way to continue sharing the gospel with those looking for hope! We are very thankful to the Lord that Skyline Church has thrived and set an example of what it looks like to both love and serve our community during extremely trying times. This group of Skyline pastors and staff is truly amazing. I am so grateful to be a part of this team. 

Now, let’s bring this home. How do we individually live out a model faith day in and day out in front of those 8-15 people we commonly connect with (even during this time) the New Testament calls our Oikos? The place we’ve got to turn to is, Hebrews 11. Here, God walks through examples of what a model faith looks like. Let’s look at three.

Right away in the first verse of Hebrews 11, it tells us exactly what faith is. “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead” (Hebrews 11:1). People often say things like, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” But the first thing we have to do in order to have a model faith, is to believe it when we don’t see it.

The second thing we have to do in order to have a model faith, is to obey when it doesn’t make sense. In Hebrews 11:7, we read about Noah building an ark to save his family from a worldwide flood. The funny thing about Noah building the ark and preparing for a downpour was that it had never rained before. Or what about Abraham in Hebrews 11:8? He was called to move, leave his country, and go to a foreign land. Some of you may be thinking, that’s not so bad. But let’s remember, at the time, Abraham was 75 years old! 

So often, we want a guarantee before we move. But God wants to stretch our faith in order to grow us. Are you going to listen to God, or listen to your gut? Are you going to wait for security, or are you going to step out in faith even when you don’t understand it?

The third habit we need to exercise in order to build a model faith is to give when we don’t have it. If you’ve been a Christian very long, you know I’m not just trying to get you to empty your pockets because YOU have seen first hand how God has blessed you abundantly for giving in faith. The first example that Hebrews 11 gives is of Abel who offered a gift to God. It wasn’t how much Abel gave, it was HOW he gave. It’s never the amount, it’s always the attitude. It’s why one of our core values is You can’t out give God!

I’ll never forget one of my mentors who spoke into my life when he said, “Pastors are always afraid of talking about money because it turns people off. But you need to tell people, you need to tell business owners, the best time to give is when they are in the dumps. Tell them to give because that is when they need God the most!” 

Now, those who are well off and want to give, bless you. But, no matter who you are, you need to know that it’s not about the amount. It’s always about your heart. 

Many of you gave to Skyline Church at the end of the year last year when we talked about finishing strong in 2019. Little did we know that we’d be walking into an unprecedented season like the 2020 pandemic. Each of you that stepped out in faith and gave to the Lord through the church, have helped us keep the main thing the main thing … we’ve been able to live out our purpose of helping people find and follow Jesus seven days a week. Hundreds of people have made a decision to follow Christ and several more have found a church home when there were no churches to go to. Thank you for your faith! 

I realize this is a crazy time for so many people. But, I want to encourage you to keep going even when you don’t feel like it. Make it a goal to grow your faith in these unprecedented times. I want to encourage you to keep moving toward the North Star of a model faith by  believing when you don’t see it, obeying when it doesn’t make sense, giving when you don’t have it, and just KEEP going.

We don’t know what the elections will bring, what the holidays will bring, or even what 2021 will bring, but let’s be certain of what we hope for, with a confident assurance, that it WILL happen. 

Biblical Understanding = Lives Changed

23 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by in Church, grow, patience

≈ 3 Comments

It’s a special time in SO many ways. On one hand, there are so many churches closed and will not reopen all over the world. While this happens in a typical year it is especially true in 2020. At Skyline Church, we decided to open (after clearly understanding the virus and it’s risks) and stay open. That decision has given us the opportunity to see SO many people taking incredibly important steps of faith.

In the past few weeks, we’ve baptized 99 people and even more have made first time decisions and/or recommitted their lives to Jesus. That’s one of the main reasons we can see the importance of ministering to our community by having an open church during this time. People need hope to cope! 
Thank you for continuing to invite people! As we near the the holidays, and even the 2020 Elections, we know that more than ever people are going to be looking for hope. I want to encourage you to remember that an invite can change a life. Extend an invitation to someone to church.

 If they are more comfortable watching the service in the comfort of their own home, send a link to our service (we have been incredibly encouraged by the number of decisions from people literally all over the world who tune in online). Let them know, they are not alone. They matter to God and they matter to us!

Some of the people you may be hesitating to invite, maybe people who’ve expressed doubt and uncertainty about the Gospel in the past. Understandably so, some people get hung up on certain aspects of the Bible before understanding its full context. Whether people think the Bible is confusing, a list of religious rules, contradicting, condemning, or whatever … the truth is, God IS Love and the Bible is His gift to us. In order to truly understand God’s Word, sometimes we need to do some deeper digging. That might mean …

  1. Reading the chapters before and after the chapter you’re reading to get the bigger picture
  2. Learning some basics about the original languages of the Bible; Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic
  3. Maybe God wants us to wrestle with a concept or idea with Him so that He can give us true wisdom and understanding

Every week we do ALL of that! We love to look at the Bible as a whole and give the bird’s eye view. But we also like to dive deep and help you have a clearer understanding of God’s will which helps you understand God’s purpose for YOUR life. 

We believe that God has big plans for each and every one of us. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” Philippians 1:6. 

We also recognize that the Bible wasn’t originally written in English. We value learning the Greek going to learn some Geek and Hebrew words like “Oikos.” Aside from being a great yogurt brand, Oikos is a Greek word used in the Bible meaning “household.” When reading verses like Luke 8:39, someone was told to “… return to his household and described the great things done for him.” But, someone who understands the original language would understand that “Oikos” actually means MORE than your household. In Greek, Oikos means your relational network! 

That means, tell your family, neighbors, coworkers, local barista, mechanic, carpool buddies, dentist, etc. … Some of you are imagining the last awkward conversation you had with your dentist while they poked around your mouth. Understanding the original text is incredibly important. It makes understanding God much easier. 


Maybe at some point in time, you’ve put down your Bible and walked away feeling like you didn’t understand what you just read. You may have felt offended, discouraged, or even like it was pointless. I want to encourage you to not give up, but look up, in other words pray about it! 

God wants to help you understand and will work through it with you! James 1:5 reminds us that, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” 

More than ever, people need hope to cope! I want to encourage you to invite someone in your “Oikos” to church this Sunday. Tell them about the wonderful things God has done for you! Many people have lost their jobs. Others haven’t seen family in months. And for the first time, many will experience the holidays alone. But as we continue to fix our eyes on Jesus, we can look forward with eager anticipation for what is to come! We can rest in the fact that God gave us His book to prepare us, not scare us.

Growing in Faith

17 Thursday Sep 2020

Posted by in grow, Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Faith is SO important that Hebrews tells us it’s impossible to please God without it. But be encouraged because faith takes time to develop and God wants us to grow in our faith. 

The Bible is clear that planning and preparing is wise, but there will come a time when you have planned all you can, prepared all you can, and you don’t know what lies ahead. It’s in this moment that a decision has to be made. Moving forward is an act of faith.

Faith doesn’t come automatically. Faith takes time. And God is going to take you through a process. Here are five things that you can expect to encounter before you have your break through. 

  1. God gives you a dream or a goal or an idea and there’s something he wants you to do or accomplish.
  2. You have to decide if you’re going to take Him up on His plan or keep going your own way. 
  3. Once you decide to do it, there’s always a delay before the dream or goal is fulfilled. You’re in a hurry but God’s not. It’s not a no, it’s a not yet. Hang in there!
  4. Then comes the resistance. We tend to question things and give ear to doubts when things get hard or take too long.  
  5. Dead End. Congratulations––you have nowhere to look but up! You hit a dead end, you think it’s over, but this is when God’s power is really displayed.

If God has given you this dream and you’ve already gone through these stages … He’s NOT going to break His promise to you. 2 Corinthians 1:9 tells us, 

“ … we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end. Yet we believe now that we had this experience of coming to the end of our tether that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God who can raise the dead …” 

2 Corinthians 1:9

Since God can raise the dead, He can raise a dead marriage, a dead career, a dead dream! Does this sound familiar? You’re not alone! There are stories like this all over the Bible and this should anchor your soul in faith.  
So, what’s the best response to a dead end? Expecting God to act. Be confident that at the right time, God will come through and provide a breakthrough. Where God guides, He provides.

Let me give you a personal example when I needed some hope to cope … Not too long ago I made a drive out to Phoenix from San Diego. Some of you may be familiar with that drive. I was in the middle of one of those stretches of endless brown sand and blue sky, with literally nothing in sight for miles when the vente coffee I had earlier was ready for it’s next stop. But the hope I had came from a sign that read, “Rest Stop in 5 Miles.”

I WAS ABLE TO ENDURE the suffering of the moment, because the sign promised me what was ahead.

I want to encourage you, you may be suffering something for the moment, but you can be confident there are good things ahead. Have faith that the Lord will bring you through this time. You can be confident, the future holds something far better than the present. As the “sign” in Hebrews reads, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Misery is Optional

20 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by in comfort, grow, Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

We need to realize that suffering is unavoidable. In fact, we need to be prepared to suffer. While it’s true that suffering is unavoidable, misery is optional. We don’t have to be miserable when we suffer, it’s all in how we choose to see things.

Since the day you said that you’re a Christian, you were put on trial. Non-believers everywhere raised an eyebrow and put your life under a microscope. And you don’t need me to tell you that these people are going to push your buttons. There are preconceived notions of what a Christian should or should not talk about, post online, or do. These people are going to question your integrity. They’re going to question if this “faith” is real to you.

While it’s true that our faith should be tested in order to strengthen it and the more outgoing you are with your faith the more you are likely to deal with various tests from people. On the contrary, if we’re never challenged for our faith, what does that tell us about our faith? 

Notice in James 1:2, it says, “When you face trials of various kinds” … it doesn’t say IF you face trials. WHEN you face trials, because we all will,James goes on to say, “Consider it joy.”  I’m not talking about masochism and hoping for pain. I’m talking about having faith regardless of the circumstance. James says you can have joy in the midst of suffering. Suffering doesn’t have to produce misery.  

I remember my old baseball coaches with the St. Louis Cardinals telling us, “Boys, you want us yelling at you, you want us on your case because that means we believe in you and we think you can be even better! However, if we stop yelling at you and ignore you, you can bet your days as a Cardinal are numbered.” 

When it comes to suffering as a Christian, often times we wonder how to discern whether it is the kind of suffering that is intended to grow our faith or the kind of suffering that is just plain suffering.

The reality is that at any point in time, you are going to be experiencing one of three types of sufferings …  

1. Common Suffering: We’re all human and we’re all in this together. (The Coronavirus is affecting us all.) Some suffering is common to all mankind. No one escapes some kind of suffering on this earth. It’s one of the reasons we, as Christians, look forward to heaven where there is no sorrow, no pain, and no suffering.

2. Carnal Suffering: We make bad choices. We bring plenty of suffering on ourselves by the poor and unwise decisions we make. If I ignore my health and eat poorly and never exercise, I shouldn’t get mad at God if I were to develop health issues. It reminds me of this verse, “People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord”Proverbs 19:3 | NLT.

3. Christian Suffering: You did the right thing. Now what?
Christian Suffering is where I want to focus today. The book of first Peter can be summarized in three words; Faith, Obedience, and Patience. It’s a story of faith through difficulty, obedience through pain, and patience through suffering. Peter doesn’t shy away from the topic of suffering when he says, “Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in His suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world …” 1 Peter 4:13 | NLT
Peter says there are three positives for Christians when they struggle.

A. It draws us closer to Jesus. 
 “… these trials will make you partners with Christ in His suffering, and afterwards you will have the wonderful joy of sharing His glory …” 1 Peter 4:13b | LB 

Notice the word partners. This means you’ll get to know God up close and personal. There’s a special kind of depth a relationship gains when people suffer together. Just ask any war veteran. Suffering together for the right cause is what bonds people to one another. The same goes for families that endure hardships together. There is a bonding that can take place as you recognize you are in this together.

B. God can be seen in our life. 
“When people insult you because you follow Christ,you are blessed … because the Spirit of God is with you.”1 Peter 4:14 | NCV

If nobody ever challenges you, then maybe you’re not living a Godly, Christ-centered life. I’m not talking about all the time, like you’re obnoxious so people are constantly upset with you. But, a Christian, according to the Bible should be challenged from time to time because you stand in direct contrast to the values of the world. Remember, you’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything. So, if you’re suffering, congratulations, you’re standing for something! You’re standing for Christ! and God can be seen in your life. Jesus Christ was not ashamed to die for you, so don’t be ashamed to live for Him. 

C. It means God trusts us. “The apostles (were) happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus.” Acts 5:41 | GN

On average 100,000 Christians are killed around the world because of their faith every year. While nobody will put you before a firing squad in America, sometimes I wonder if God trusts American Christians. Most Christians want Jesus as long as it’s comfortable and convenient for them. 
So often we think God is punishing us when we’re suffering, you need to remember that God is not punishing you He wants to promote you. Trials have a way of purifying us for greater service. There’s a difference between knowing about God and knowing God. That difference is lived out when you go through the fire with Him. If nobody knows you’re a Christian or where you stand on anything, and you’re a people pleaser, you have to realize that you’re not pleasing God.  

When the rubber of your faith meets the road of reality, that’s when your faith becomes real. It becomes real for you AND your Oikos (those 8-15 people in your relational world).

Life is really pushing our buttons right now during this quarantine. Coming up on 6-months and let’s just be honest, IT IS RIDICULOUS. There is plenty of suffering to go around. Maybe you’re facing all three types of suffering right now and you’re experiencing a stretch in your faith. Take heart, friend! Being a believer in Jesus Christ is not about perfection. It’s about progress. God has not lost sight of you and He is walking through the fire with you. 

Stay strong. Stay faithful. And remember that suffering is unavoidable but misery is optional.