Good Side of Suffering

From my quiet time today:

You have enlarged me when I was in distress.

Psalm 4:1

"This is one of the greatest testimonies ever written regarding the effectiveness of God's work on our behalf during times of crisis. It is a statement of thanksgiving for having been set free not from suffering but rather through suffering. In stating, "You, God, have enlarged me when I was in distress," the psalmist is declaring that the sorrows of life have been the source of life's enlargement or growth."

I dont know if my friend remembers, but a while back I was having doubts about my calling and place in ministry, while at the same time doubting myself as a person and Christian. One day, this friend, Kirk, asked me how I was doing. I was completely honest. I told him that I was feeling pretty down and I was not feeling God's presence at all in my life. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Hmmmm...for me, I am closest to God when I am suffering and down..."

Back then I thought was the worst and stupidest answer I had ever heard.

However, especially this week, I understand. The past few weeks have been crazy for a lot of people that I have talked to. This week has been especially crazy for me. I have a friend that was introduced to suffering unexpectedly...completely unfair...

But God is close to us, right there with us through the suffering, saving us! Not from the suffering, but saving us all throughout the suffering.

So are you letting your suffering build you up? Are you letting God work in the chaos and confusion??

I shall end with this:

God is near to all who call, near to all who call on him in truth.

Psalm 145:18

Until Next Time....

God just said "BRING IT"

Test me in this and see if I, God, don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams. ---Malachi 3:10

"God's ability to perform is far beyond our prayers---even our greatest prayers! I have recently been thinking of some of the requests I have made of Him so many times in my prayers. And what have I requested? I have asked for a cupful, while He owns the entire ocean! I have asked for one simple ray of light, while He holds the sun! My best asking falls incredibly short of my Father's ability to give, which is far beyond what we could ever ask."
---John Henry Jowett

July 26

My brother in Christ, Bryan Lee, turned my attention toward a devotional book call Streams in the Desert a while back. Admittedly, I have been on and off with this devotion because life has been so wretchedly busy. But since my tank was running on empty, I decided to make a pit stop (NASCAR terminology :] ) and spend some time in the presence of God and his heavenly pit crew and fuel up (I promise the NASCAR terminology is done). I will share today's devotion with you.


By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.
(Galatians 5:5)

There are times when everything looks very dark to me, so dark that I have to wait before I have hope. Waiting with hope is very difficult, but true patience is expressed when we must also wait for hope. When we see no hint of success yet refuse to be depressed, when we see nothing but the darkness of night through our window yet keep shutters open because stars may appear in the sky, and when we have an empty place in our heart yet will not allow it to be filled with anything less than God's best...THAT is the greatest kind of patience in the universe. It is the story of Job in the center of the storm and Jesus in the Garden. And there is no patience as strong as that which endures because we see "him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27). It is that kind of patience that waits for hope.

Dear Lord, You have made waiting beautiful and patience awesome. You have taught us that Your will should be accepted, simply because it is Your will. You have revealed to us that a person may see nothing but sorrow in his life yet still be willing to live because of a conviction that YOUR eyes see further than their own.

Father, give me strength to wait for hope, to look through the window when there are no stars. Even when my joy is gone, give me strength to stand victoriously in the darkest night and say to my heavenly Father, "the sun still shines."



In the middle of my big move, there have been some low points, some dips and curves, unexpected obstacles, and questions. There are still some lose ends that need to be tied, but God will take care of those ends and tie them into beautiful knots. And the knots will help me and my wife remember that God was in the middle of all of this, working it out for the good of those who love God and are willing to be patient in the darkest of nights and say "the sun/Son still shines."

So to all my people who read this, when you feel you are at your lowest point, remember...no height and no depth can escape God! God is there, because the sun/Son still shines!!

Until Next Time

Are You A Trader??

This was my final sermon to my former church Lees Chapel in Dunn, NC. It was Graduate Sunday and my final day with them. Read through it, watch the video when prompted by the link titled "Are You A Trader," and let me know what you think!!

PS....sorry if it is weird....blogs dont like it when you copy and paste from Word apparently!

There is a skit from the 90s from Saturday Night Live featuring deceased comedian Chris Farley. The skit is called “Matt Foley: Motivational Speaker.” Matt Foley is a motivational speaker to high school teenagers, or anyone that will listen to him, who lives in a van down by the river and lives on a steady diet of government cheese. In one scene, Matt Foley explains what these growing teenagers may be feeling and what they think their life might become:

Now I know youre thinking that youre gonna go out and
grab the world by the tail,
and pull it down,

and put it in your pocket

But im here to tell you that as you go out there

Youre gonna find out

That youre not gonna amount to
JACK SQUAT

Have you ever felt like that or been told that? That you will never amount to Jack Squat? Is there a chance that your story could be different? That your short time here on this earth could make an eternal difference?

Are You A Trader?

Since the video is about two minutes long, moves very quickly, and information sticks when you say things more than once…let me explain the challenge for you today and for the rest of your short time here on earth.

You have been tricked. You have been tricked into thinking that this life is all about me, me, me…the money money money and the blingy bling bling. The further you are up on the ladder of life, the better off you are for the rest of your life. But, like most ladders, the higher up you are, the further you fall.

This is an extremely distorted and confused version of the American Dream. At some point, this dream became all about building up the individual…and not the people that need it the most. What kind of world do we live in that promotes the big people getting bigger and bigger…and the poor man growing smaller….that instead of giving a hand up, we just give a hand out and be on our way? Is there not more to this life?

A group of people created an organization called rightnow.org in part inspired by the story from Jesus about the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37.

They have been inspired to be a group called Traders. Traders are a new type of missionary, not defined by geography, because it is really easy to go far away to people or lands you do not know, mainly because you may never see them again. Traders are more defined by the mission they are on, right where they are at, everyday, right now. We are called to live out our faith, not just talk about, sing about it, sit up and sit down about it. They really live it!

TRADERS have 4 motivations in their life:

1.) Traders choose daily to follow Jesus. It is no longer about me, it is about Jesus. Je-sus!! That leads us right back to the parable. The man chose to follow the way he knew was best, to stop and help. This way we now know is the way Jesus calls us to take, to go and do likewise. Thus, we sometimes must sacrifice the time it would take to take of a stranger, the money it could take to heal him, and share whatever skill it could take to bring life back to the broken.

2. Traders hate injustice and find ways to bring the hope of Jesus to the desperate. What is it in this life that you hate? It is extremely easy to pick what you hate in this life…what are the things that break your heart and makes your fist clinch…or makes you want to vomit. For the Samaritan man, it was seeing another person left behind, broken and scarred, hopeless and alone, being passed by the ones who should have been the first to help him. So what is it that makes you angry, fist clenched and breaks your heart…find specific ways to tackle these issues that show the hope and healing that is within the heart, life and spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Traders use work as worship; everything you do can be an opportunity to worship the God who created you. God is most glorified when we use our God given talents for good and life changing work.

4. Act swiftly, because the time is right now. It is not after college, it is not after your kids start going to church, it is not when your kids graduate…the time is right now, when we exit the doors.

As the video says, this movement can result in a generation of traders, who are making a difference with their time, money and passions, that are God-kingdom focused and not self focused, so that our short time here can make an eternal impact. And if generations after us follow us, just think of what this world has the potential of becoming…

So what do you say? Are you ready? Are you ready to be a trader? Are you ready to choose to walk with Jesus everyday, fighting injustice, all the while worshipping the God who created you, and doing that right now? That challenge not only goes out to you folks here, but all of us. We are a family. You graduates in front of me, you are not alone. You will always have this church as your family…and we will walk with you in your decision to be a trader in this lifetime. So what do you say? Middle school? High School? Graduates? Parents? Families? Church? What do you say?

May 21?? Really?

May i preface this by asking you to go and read my professors blog on this topic? It is a quick read.
http://tinyurl.com/3t3gyg2

First of all, if May 21 is legit, I will be the first to find my professor and my friends up in heaven and punch them in the face because they are in Israel when all of this "will" go down.

But with that said, I believe I won't have this opportunity. Harold Camping, the leader of this Judgement Day movement, has been wrong once before (calling Sept. 6, 1994) and he is likely wrong again.


My reasoning? He pulls one Old Testament scripture (Gen7:4 saying giving a time of destruction of the earth as 7 days) and then a New Testament scripture (2 Peter 3:8 saying 1 day is a thousand years and a thousand years is a day to God) and coming up with some pretty ridiculous math to bring Judgment to May 21, 2011. I have my Math degree...and have had some class that mention "special" numbers in the Bible...but Harold's thought process is ridiculous. and remember, these verses are taken WAYYYYY out of context...so always remember to think about what these authors were going through when these passages were written. As my professors always say, "CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT." And when you pull two verses out of the Bible...guess what you have left....A BIBLE!! A recording of peoples lives as they have lived under God and with Jesus in their real lives!!


All of this to say, we have NOTHING to worry about. Do not go sell your house, do not go spend your life savings...because the followers of this movement HAVE!!! The disappointing thing is that they have thousands of followers, but even they say only about 144000 will actually make it to heaven...hmmmmmm.

May we remember some verses of scripture that Jesus himself and his followers taught us from the beginning:

Matthew 24

³⁶"But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows.

^39-44"The Son of Man's Arrival will be like that: Two men will be working in the field—one will be taken, one left behind; two women will be grinding at the mill—one will be taken, one left behind. So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up.

As Peter said, "false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction" (2 Peter 2:1). John in Revelation said Jesus was coming but never said when.

And when Timothy’s mentor Paul spoke about this he said: For "evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13), and "the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Finally, there are some good things we can take from these people who are looking forward to May 21. Though we might think these people are a little nutty for waiting for May 21 at 6pm (according to you time-zone, that is when it will "happen" for you), I have to pat them on the back for being EAGER to see the face of God and their Savior Jesus!! And let it be known, I am just as eager! We are called to be eager!!

My heart is burdened for these people who have followed this movement with all their heart. What if we see May 22? What happens then? What happens to the hearts of these people. My first thought is that they will fall away from the faith...and that is sad. My heart prays for these people that they may not be discouraged, that they continue to follow Jesus just as hard as ever before. And i have the same prayer for myself and all of you when the light breaks on May 22 and we are brushing our teeth and preparing for worship.

And please know that none of us know when this will happen, not even Jesus. So it could happen May 20, June 30, or nov. 29, 2059. Until it happens, be ready. Live your life for God, doing what Jesus did: Loving God and Loving People.

And these people that follow May 21 show us something else…
Everyone is searching for something…

When we believe Jesus, his death, resurrection and returning, we have the greatest mystery in the world…because it is TRUE!

And whenever the day does come...I can only echo Casting Crowns...OH GLORIOUS DAY.... :)


UNTIL NEXT TIME....

The Monster of Lust

Time to flex the blogger's muscle again...gotta reclaim my voice and drive my journey deeper...
Recently I have fallen away because of some different stressors in my life....but all stressful things come to an end or work themselves out...and the same is true in my own life. Now, as my journal begins, I restart my journey to where I used to be, or maybe where God needs me to go...

And now to share my thoughts on life and God today...

"Lust is a poor, weak, whimpering, whispering thing, compared with that richness and energy of desire which will arise when lust has been KILLED!"
-C.S. Lewis from Red Lizard of Lust

Lust is a pretty crucial topic in the life of men and women alike. [So if you see me just focus on the men, please know it is not a gender issue. Ladies, all the ladies, this is for you too :) ] Our eyes can wander before we can think twice and often the second thought is about what we just saw. Often this is about looking at women (or men) and seeing them as an object instead of a child of God. We often get trapped in this lust and their seems to be no way out. The words of John Piper give us a starting point in overcoming lust, "We must swallow up the little flicker of lust's pleasure in the [all consuming fire] of holy satisfaction."
Our hearts should be so in tune with God that we no longer feel any form or need of lust. God can be that satisfaction for out lives if we let it. If Easter means anything, it reminds us that we can be made brand new, given a new life. A life where we have this holy satisfaction that centers on God and what He is doing in us and around the world. In this life, we are counted as righteous for our faith in God and His promises through a relationship in Jesus, our Savior. (Romans 4)

We are reminded to clothe ourselves, or surround ourselves on every side, with this new life of holy satisfaction and people/things that will support it. In this way, we may be tempted, but we never fall into the trap of lust. Why? Because, as John Piper writes, "Our aim is [no longer to] avoid something erotic [or tempting], but to gain something excellent."


Live to gain something excellent in a life that is completely dependent on God and the business He wants you to take a part in!!!

Until Next Time...

A day at the bank!

Maybe one of the greatest things about my calling as a minister is having to answer the hard questions of life. So I am always talking with people in stores, schools, and banks. Today….it was in a bank! It was any other visit to the bank to deposit my WEALTHY paycheck (please notice sarcasm). I was filling out my slip and I overheard a conversation at the teller-counter…

“You wouldn’t believe what happens at my business on Sundays. The people from churches come to eat at my restaurant and they are drinking and cussing like they don’t care where they were just 20 minutes ago. And people wonder why I don’t go to church.”

This man complaining about church people, whom I have seen before, told me to go ahead of him. He leaves the room. My friend, the bank teller, told me to come forward. I slip my check over to her and tell her it is just a deposit. What you all have to know is that my church treasurer lady writes my name REV. David Gaddy. Maybe you already see where this is going! She looks down at the check, giggles, and looks up to me. Here it comes: “What do you think about all of this?”

All of a sudden a song popped into my head: “This is what it is, This is who I am, This is where I finally take my stand.”

What an awesome opportunity to have. To be able to share a little bit of truth and faith with other people.

I know what other people would say to these folks: “Well Christians are hypocrites…” or “These people just aren’t getting it…”

If you have said that, then you have to say that about yourself. I’ll be honest as Paul in the Bible was with us: I am the worst of all the hypocrites and often times I don’t do it right and don’t get it.

Here are my thoughts, because introducing this situation and not giving my thoughts or conclusion to the story would be mean. I answered:

“One thing you can count on is that people are going to be people. We all have many choices. We are not going to be perfect. Specifically for the issue of drinking, it is all about responsibility. Being out of control and drunk is the sin and stupid choice. Me personally, I choose not to drink so I am not tempted to do that. But having a drink is okay. Cussing is a matter of opinion, but I think our words should build up and not tear down. They can encourage someone or destroy someone. So we should be careful about what we say. However, I will say I cuss when I stub my toe…that is probably the worst pain ever. When I am extremely angry and by myself, I cuss. When I have a conversation with God, I have cussed. I'm not proud of these, but it even happens with me.

But thank God that God loves me despite me! He loves me just the way I am, but He also loves me too much to leave me there. It is the same for all of us. God is calling us into a new life and new relationship with him because of what Jesus did for us. When Jesus died on the cross, He died so we would not be slaves to the sins and screw-ups anymore, those temptations, and that pain. He does not call us to be perfect, but to be different. He wants us to be honest and open in our communication with him and become mirrors in this world of his love, healing and peace.”

I probably did not answer this in the best way and probably left some strings of thought left untied. But that is okay. I helped them to see God’s love and healing and hopefully left enough unsaid that they go and search out faith on their own.

So what say you? What do you think? How many people are mad at me now? HAHA!

Be Stiil and Know...

Genesis 26 records a story of Isaac moving away from his home town and finding rest in Beersheba. In his home town, he had been tormented! He was involved in several stupid arguments. There is nothing like little worries, especially when there are many of them. Because of his worries, even after the arguments were over, his home town held bad memories for Isaac. Therefore, Isaac need a change of scenery. So he went far away and set up his new home. That night, God came to him, when there was no inner storm. God could not speak to Isaac when his mind was troubled. God's voice demands silence of the soul. Only in the quiet and stillness of the spirit could Isaac hear the garments of his God brush by him.

"My soul, have you pondered these words: "Be still and know" (Psalm 46:10)? In the hour of distress, you cannot hear the answer to your prayers. How often has the seemed to come much later! The heart heard no reply during the moment of its crying, its thunder, its earthquake, and its fire. But once the crying stopped, once the stillness came, once concern for other lives broke through the tragedy of your own life, the long-awaited reply appeared. You must rest, O soul to receive your heart's desire. Slow the beating of your heart over concerns for your personal care. Place the storm of your individual troubles on God's altar of everyday trials, and the same night, the Lord will appear to you."
-L.B. Cowman

GET REAL!

Question: How do you think the disciples felt when Jesus arose from the dead?

Matthew 28:1-20

Would it surprise you that some of them were flat-out freaked out, to the point of doubting what they were seeing when they looked at Jesus? We never really talk about it much, but we should. It is the second principle of our MUTINY:
Get Real!

The thing we need to get real about is our spiritual condition. The writer Matthew did not white-wash the spiritual conditions of some of the disciples.
No, he just came right out and wrote it in permanent ink: “some doubted.”

But the great part to see here is that in spite of their doubts, they obeyed the commission of Jesus to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” And in spite of their doubts, Jesus used them. Jesus took their little bit of faith and did something big with it. He can do the same with our tiny faith as long as we continue to trust enough to obey Him. Jesus talked once about when we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can move mountains!

But maybe Jesus was not so focused on the size of our faith, but more about God being the object of our faith. We all need to GET REAL about the faith and doubts we all have. They are very different because we all have encountered different situations and problems and temptations. In what scholars call our “post-modern world,” a person does not know if they can be sure about anything. As we continue to walk in our faith, we need to know that it is okay and healthy for us to wrestle through our doubts to our faith, just as the very early disciples did.

I mean think about it. It is really tough not to doubt our faith. Think about some of the major points of Christianity. We believe in a God that we cannot explain, trust in a Savior we’ve never met, and look forward to a heaven that we’ve never seen. It sounds UNBELIVABLE! But that is why it is called Amazing Grace! If it was totally easy to understand, it would be average grace!

So are you wrestling with and doubting your faith? Then I say great! It is okay! But just know this: in the midst of your doubt and wrestling, Jesus can still use you if you continue to trust and obey God in your life.

Whispers of God

If God whispered, what would it sound like? Would you recognize His voice if He was trying to speak to you? I think for most of us, the answer would be NO! This is a shame, because we can hear God’s voice if our lives are in tune with Him. The question then is where are you seeking to find Him? Are you looking in all the wrong channels and places? Let us see what my boy Rob has to say about this!

Follow the link!!! It only takes 10 minutes, but it is pretty powerful!

http://vimeo.com/11397470

You see, God is moving in powerful ways in our lives and the lives of those around us. But most of us are too busy, stubborn, or arrogant to hear it. So instead we choose the big, the loud, lightening, wind, and earthquakes. As a result, we cant hear the whisper.

Think about it. What do we do as soon as we get home and it is really quiet? We crank the radio, the mp3, and the TV. Meanwhile God is whispering. He is moving quietly in and around us, but we cant hear him over the noise of life. We miss God’s subtle movements.

So tell me, how do we go about hearing God’s voice?

Some of you may suggest a daily quiet time with God. And to that I say NO!

A daily quiet time is something we should be doing anyways if we call ourselves faithful and/or Jesus Freaks. However, this time can become mechanical.

But, if by quiet time you mean taking time to read God’s Word, thinking through what God’s Spirit is trying to say, and spending time in silence reflecting on how that applies to your life at that very moment, then my answer is YES!

It is during this kind of time that we can hear the whispers of God.

The first way to begin hearing this whisper though, is to begin in a life long journey with God through Jesus Christ. This is not a call for you to be perfect, Jesus did that for you. This is a call to live a life of progress, reaching to God for your strength and guidance, and changing the world around you because of what God is doing: loving, moving, whispering…