Pleasure Seekers

Hedonism argues that pleasure has an ultimate importance and is the most important pursuit of humanity. According to hedonism, pleasure is all that matters. If we examine our lives today, most of us (if honest) would come to the conclusion that we live hedonistic lifestyles as we seek for ourselves the ultimate pleasures of this life. The problem with this lifestyle is simple… it is all like chasing after the wind. Solomon sought for himself every pleasure. He withheld nothing from his eyes and nothing from his heart. Laughter, hobbies, real estate, vacations, luxuries, entertainment, sex, wisdom, fame, and money… His conclusion? All vanity.

John Piper, who I greatly respect, read, and listen to often, classifies himself as a Christian hedonist as he seeks ultimate pleasure in the Creator alone. What is the difference here in his seeking and Solomon’s seeking?? Piper seeks pleasure in the lone pleasure Giver to ultimately exalt God for the giving of pleasure. Solomon sought stuff to fill voids in his life. Once we become completely satisfied in God alone, everything that is meant to bring pleasure: Nature, Art, Family, Friends, Sex, Community, Worship, etc. will actually start bringing satisfying pleasure because we understand and know the Giver and Supplier!! Our problem is that we are still seeking fulfillment in the pleasures instead of the Pleasure-Giver.

As I read through Kent Hughes’ “Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life” it is becoming more and more obvious that the church is seeking for itself pleasure. We want what we want, and that is clearest when it comes to worship. Bob Kauflin said, “The one thing that should be bringing unity in the church is the very thing that is dividing us. We should be unified in the exaltation of our Creator through song, yet we are too busy focusing on the style of exaltation instead of the One we are exalting.” Kent Hughes hit the nail on the head when he wrote, “Even worship is not exempt from hedonism as people go where worship is most pleasurable, imagining that the worship of God exists to make them feel good.” How many of us are guilty in thinking that worship is all about us “feeling good”?

My hope and prayer is that we can become unified. It’s not about contemporary or traditional, guitar or organ, hymn or praise song… It’s about exalting the One who desires our worship and who seeks our pleasure. We will find pleasure in worship when we find pleasure in Him alone.

Set Apart: Money

I’m in the process of reading a new book that I’m extremely excited about. “Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life” by Kent Hughes. Kent Hughes has been one of my favorite authors since I was “made” by Michael Whitt (my former pastor who taught me more than college did) to read “Disciplines of a Godly Man”.


The 2nd Chapter was all about materialism. The whole concept of the book is how we as believers should be separated in every aspect of our lives from the world… we are called to live holy, yet our materialistic lives are no different than the consumer driven lives of lost people. John Stott said this, “Our blindness to materialism is similar to the western culture’s blindness to the sins of slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Today we look back in amazement that Christian people could not see it for the evil that it was. And likely, future generations will regard our day with the same perplexity: How could they not have seen it?” Wow, how blind are we to our deep sins of materialistic idolatry??

“Setting ourselves apart from materialism has everything to do with the spread of the Gospel among the Nations. We cannot be like the nations and at the same time a light to the nations. A worldly church will not reach the world. If we live for the things of Sodom, how will we point others to the hill of Salvation”, says Hughes. We must, as redeemed believers, separate ourselves from the constant struggle to obtain more for ourselves. This has been one of the most convicting chapters of any book I have ever read. My desire is to be separated, but my desire to have “stuff” is blending me into a world that needs Jesus.


As I pray for Christ to bring freedom in my life, you to search your heart and see if you struggle with the sins of covetousness, materialistic idolatry, or lack of faith in God to take care of you. We are called to be set apart, and I believe one of the best ways to make our separation visible is to invest in eternal things where rust and moth cannot destroy.

I’ll leave you with some of the best advice I’ve ever read concerning how to treat money in your lives: “Money may be temporarily under my control. But I must always regard it as a wild beast, with power to turn on me and others if I drop my guard.”—Randy Alcorn

Confessions: Father/Son Workdays

Confession time. Many of you know that I bring JP to the office with me a few days a week so Megan can work, see people in town, and just get out of the house. I don't mind him coming most of the time. He usually takes care of himself besides that whole, "Dad I really need to pee/poo" thing. Well, my confession today is simple: I usually do not watch him that closely, and today it was revealed to me why I may need to pay a little more attention.

He came up to me asking to draw, so I do what I always do... Give him a piece of paper and a pen and start back working. When I got up to walk over to Mrs. Rama's office... this is what I saw:

Yeah, Picasso had drawn all over his face and arms. And he thought it was hilarious. Don't worry though, Mrs. Rama came to the rescue with a wash cloth and soap and got him all cleaned up. I love that lady.

So I need to start watching him a little closer I admit. The scary thing was that there was chocolate all over his face!! Where did he get chocolate??!! Hey, don't judge me...

Picture Moment

Life is good...

Teaching Scripture

Tonight I'm taking the students to John 4. Most of us know something about the "Woman at the Well" but after listening to John Piper sermon several weeks back, I don't think that I'll ever look at this passage the same again. SO MUCH is packed in just the small amount that I'll be able to cover tonight. After working on this message, and actually getting excited while I was reading and typing and praying (seriously...I was shouting and doing my jerky dance sitting at my desk I was so moved by this passage), I began to wonder how many people sit in church services completely oblivious to the Word that is being spoken? And whose fault is it? The speaker? The listener? The Devil's? WHOSE??!! How many times have I spoken and never connected to the people whom I was communicating with? So I examined my early church years as a 9th and 10th grader. The majority of the Sunday mornings I spent in church were used to draw up basketball and football plays on the bulletin with my best buddy, Matthew.

Then one Sunday morning, Rev. Steve Poteat preached a message that connected with me. I still remember sitting there as he preached the text of Matthew 13. Verse by verse he gave us 5 facts of salvation that was in that portion of Scripture. He stuck to the text and he never left it. I never took notes during sermons, but that morning, compelled by the Holy Spirit, I tried to write every word. Why? What was the difference? There is amazing power in Scripture. It is Holy...Divine...Inspired by God.

I believe there are a lot of factors mixed in when people just flat aren't listening to the message. I believe we all play a part in it. I mean seriously, every Sunday morning as I'm teaching the text in Sunday School, I have a few adults who never hear a word (hmmm...guess who this is). Several things contribute to this wondering of the mind, but I believe we as teachers must stick with the text because it is way more captivating than anything we can come up with.

So tonight, we will stick CLOSE to the Word of God. I'm expecting big things tonight. 1. because we serve a huge God who is capable of changing hearts and 2. because Scripture is life-changing. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that it is living and active, able to divide the very soul and spirit. So whenever you are teaching or just talking to someone on the street about Jesus... Stick to the Text

Monday Mind Dump

• We have canceled our mission trip to Honduras. I'm really struggling with this. Maybe it was the right decision, maybe not, but I do know that there are some people who desperately need to experience foreign missions.
• Also, the cancellation of this trip has made me seriously fight the flesh. God is definitely growing me right now as I learn to deal with things that I'll have to deal with as long as I'm in ministry (a.k.a. the rest of my life).
• I'm extremely thankful to have had some very understanding and spiritually mature people that were involved in this trip. You guys rock my face off, and your hearts for sure made up for a lot of the other issues that I had to deal with.
• On the lighter side of things... I have a JP story for you:

- Last Wednesday night as I was upstairs in our student service, JP got lose. I'm not sure if you understand how bad this is... When JP is on his own, he loses he forfeits any sense we may think he has. So Wed. night as they were coming back from the playground, JP decided to open the door to the adult bible study in the sanctuary. I wonder what went through his head next...

-"Hmm, these people are reading about Jesus. Maybe I should quietly close the door and fall back in line with my class."

- "I wonder how many laps I can make before someone catches me"

- "Does Daddy really need to work here?"

- "I wonder if everyone will laugh if I run on stage and do my awkward arm jerking dance that Grandma taught me?"

I'm not sure what went through his head but he decided to run a lap around church...during bible study... even though he has been told countless times not to and his life has been threatened. The story I got was that after turn two he trips over Bro. Scott's podium that is set up in the middle of the room. I bet as he was flying through the air he thought, "Crap, this was not such a good idea after all." He landed and was caught by one sweet merciful lady who apparently wants me to keep my job... Thanks Mrs. Gayle.

• Those ladies who work with JP's age class will have a special place next to throne of Jesus.

Friday 5

5 things I'm ready for...

• I'm ready for Megan to have this baby. Bring on the late nights and dirty diapers.
• I'm ready to win a game in Church Softball. Remind me again why we decided to have two teams??
• I'm ready to teach about the Woman at the Well Wednesday night. You can be satisfied with the Living Water.
• I'm ready to rearrange my office. I need some change.
• I'm ready for next year's VBS. I love me some Jeff Slaughter dance moves... "I'm workin on my serve..." (shake hands from side to side with palms up and looking incredibly ridiculous at the same time).

Questions from Fayetteville...

I drove to Fayetteville the other day alone. I had a ton of things I needed to do, and my journey lead me to several different places. These were the few questions I was asking myself throughout the day:

• As I was walking into Hobby Lobby- "Can any man actually come in here and feel comfortable? This place seems to suck the testosterone out of you as soon as you walk in."
• As I was driving by Chic-Fil-A wanting something to eat- "I just counted 17 cars waiting in the drive through line going to the building. That's not counting the cars wrapped around or the people inside. I know this place is good... but is it really THAT good?"
• Walking in the mall trying to figure out what I wanted to eat- "Am I the only person who finds it hilarious to see an American man cooking in a Chinese restaurant?"
• After I decided to eat at Boar's Nest BBQ- "Is it really necessary to charge $10 for a sandwich, fries and tea? We know there is cost to make this stuff, but exactly how much do they make??
• After I found a strategic people watching seat in the food court- "Did God purposefully send me there to that place so I might share my faith with someone?"
• While trying to eat my food- "Was placing the Bath and Body Works directly in front of the food court the best location they could find? My food tastes like Cucumber Melon."
• While reading my Bible and praying at my table- "What does Paul mean when he says the Philippians are 'confirmers' of the Gospel?"

These are the types of questions I have to deal with daily... Don't judge me:)