John Markum

Power of Sin

This past Saturday, I preached a message from Judge 16 on Samson to begin our new series, I Am Sin. Below is a synopsis of the message, just in case you missed it:

  1. Sin is Attractive: You and I don’t stumble over things that we dislike. We stumble over things that are very appealing to us. Scripture tells us that sin is “sweet for a season.” But sin is a lie. It never says, “Come on, have an ugly, bitter divorced because you had an affair.” Instead it says, “Your spouse doesn’t care for you like this person.” It never says, “Become codependent on substance abuse. Ruin your career, and hurt everyone that loves you.” Instead it says, “You need an escape from all this chaos.” Sin lies to hide what it really is.
  2. Sin is Creatively Unoriginal: Samson stumbled every time over the same thing: women. And sin knows your weak spot also. It’s not so much that sin throws us curve-balls; it just finds new ways to throw the same pitch that we can’t seem to hit.
  3. Sin desires to leave you Powerless: The saddest part of this passage is in verses 19-20, where it says, “In this way, she began to being him down, and his strength left him… he didn’t realize that the Lord had left him.” Sin wants to rob you of your power, and leave you empty and broken. Like Samson, sin wants to make you an example of something once very powerful, not humiliated by your lack of strength.

Samson thought that his hair was the source of his strength. And his disobedience to God brought him down. Sometimes we think that if we try really hard, that we can defeat our sin on our own. But our willpower is not the source of our strength to defeating sin: Jesus is. He beat sin on the cross, and He gives us the power to overcome sin from day-to-day.

Join us next week, 5pm for our second message in the series, “There to Here.”

Blessings,

Jonn

 

“Stop and Look at Me!”

Kids, man… I’ve got FOUR!!! And I love the heck out of each of them. But they can also be a handful! There are times when my kids are playing in the house and running around after each other, making noise, and causing general chaos. I’ll sometimes try to speak over the situation with some kind of instruction, like:

  • “Hey, no running in the house!”
  • “Don’t you dare throw that at her!”
  • And my favorite… “BE QUIET!”

Eventually the chaos is more than I can stand and I have to get very direct. I’ll grab one of my children and pull them away from their ruckus, and demand their undivided attention. But even as I am calmly attempting to give them a very clear, direct command to behave the right way, they sometimes will try to pull away from me, eyes pointing back toward their favorite distractions. It’s then that I demand them to “Stop and look at me!” Sometimes I’ll say, “Give me your eyes!” I know that until they pull their mind away from their chaos, they’ll never really hear what I’m trying to tell them.
Is it possible that you and I miss out on what God is trying to tell us because we are so busy with our grown-up chaos? When is the last time you felt God saying, “Stop and look at Me!”
I confess that sometimes my prayers consist of little more than a quick shout-out to God as I’m racing from this meeting to that function, and back to my office before the next function. That’s like my kids running around, doing their thing and giving me a “uh huh, yeah, ok Dad. Whatever you say…” kind of response. They didn’t hear me. And they’re probably not going to act on what I told them. Their eyes give it away. When they’re not listening to me, they’re usually looking away at what they would rather be doing other than talk to me. And God knows that until He “gets our eyes” He doesn’t really have our attention either.

When is the last time that you got out of your chaotic schedule, slowed down, and gave God your undivided attention? If you do have a regular habit of quiet time and prayer, how easily distracted do you get by the demands of your life? What will it take for you to “give God your eyes”? What are the things that you’re often looking at that pull your attention away from stopping and looking at God for a few minutes each day? A cell phone? Computer screen? TV?
Slow down your day for 15 minutes, preferably before the chaos really begins, and quiet yourself, tell God you’re listening, and give Him your “eyes.” You’ll feel closer to Him throughout the day, you’ll likely be a lot less stressed, and you’ll give God priority above all your other pressing demands.

Blessings,

John

The top 5 things you should know before you become a parent…. (Dawn Carnahan)

This is a post from the blog of Dawn Carnahan, a member and volunteer at my church, fellow blogger, and her and her husband also belong to the same LifeGroup as me and Tiff. For more great posts from Dawn, check out her blog here.

The top 5 things you should know before you become a parent….

Raising children is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I know that a lot of parents feel that way. In saying that, here are the top five things I think you should know before you become a parent.

  1.  This is a 24/7 job.  Now some people would not like the fact that I am referring to parenthood as a job, but it is.  When I had my first son, I had no idea how much work an 8 pound baby could be. I soon realized that I could go with no sleep just fine with a little help from my friend called caffeine. It was amazing to me that I could function on 1 hour of sleep.  This job offers no pay, no vacation time, or sick leave. But the benefits are priceless.
  2. Your children are not perfect. This is a concept that was fairly easy to me. I know that I am not perfect, so they are not going to be.  The thing is there are parents that think their children could walk on water. That is very hard for a child to live up to. I think that every child should have manners and should show respect. This does not mean that they won’t mess up. I mess up as a parent so my children will mess up.
  3. People who do not have children will think they know everything about parenting. This is the one thing that surprised me the most. People who do not have children, I have found, have a lot of advice to parents. This advice is generally unwanted but they seem to think they know it all.  As my grandfather would say “When you have children you know nothing, by the time you are done raising them you are an expert.” So be assured that these people have no idea what it is like.
  4.  Each child is unique. This sounds like a no-brainer but it’s hard not to compare your children. I have been guilty of this. I not only compare my children to each other, but to other children. Parents are very proud of their children and it is fun to brag about them. This should not be done to make yourself look better or to make others feel bad. I try to let my children be themselves. My oldest son is autistic so he is very different from most children. I had a really hard time not comparing him to other children. That was not good for either of us. My youngest son is my spit fire – which he came by honestly.  My children are very different and I need to embrace their differences.
  5. God gave you the children that you were meant to have. I stole this one from my pastor. I like this because it helped me a lot when I have struggled being a parent. God fully equipped you to take care of the children that He gave you. There have been times I have struggled to understand why I have a child that is different. This is the road that God has given me and I have tried to embrace it. Sometimes it’s easier than others. But God has given me the children that He knew I needed and they needed me. So remember that no matter what is going on, you are fully capable of taking care of your children.

 I am no expert in raising children. I am far from it. I yell at my children, get mad, and sometimes understand why animals eat their young.  I do love my children and want the best for them. I hope this helps all future parents and current parents.

 God Bless,

 Dawn

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