Second Stage Ministries

When I think of this word “able”, I am reminded of a story in the book of Mark. In this story we see the disciples in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus is sound asleep. 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” -Mark 4:35-40, NIV Life is represented is this story. One moment everything is going along fine, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere something happen...

On Valentine's Day this verse came up as the verse of the day on the YouVersion Bible app: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 NIV Jesus said this to His disciples and a few hour later, He was arrested and crucified. In this one sentence, Jesus summed up what He had come to Earth to do. He came to lay His life down for His friends.... and you and me. That is love. Love that cannot be beat. But what does this verse say to us? I don't think anyone reading this is going have to die for a friend. In this case, Jesus wants us to lay our life down in a different way. He wants us to offer our time to make someone's day. He wants us to offer our resources to help others.  That is what He was all about during His ministry on Earth. He was about love and that is it. Everything He did while on Earth flowed through love. Jesus wanted that love to continue so He told His disciples: "My command is ...

If this is a voice that you hear, I'm sorry. But I know it's a feeling that a lot of people have. It can come at the end of a long relationship, during a bitter divorce, a parent that abandons you, a friend that turns on you or anything else that might fit here. These moments stir up loneliness and all of the questions and doubts that go with it. But there is someone, even when it seems there is no one else, who cares a great deal about you. In fact, He knows all about you. The highs and lows. The good, bad and ugly. The past, present and the future. God knows it all, and He cares a great deal about it all. He cares a great deal about you.  This is what David writes in the book of Psalms: “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in th...

In the crazy moments of life we can hear these words: "You don't know what you are doing." "You don't have it all together." "Everything you do fails." We can believe these words because of the season of life we are in. These words can start to bog us down and make us unhappy with the way life is going. In some areas of our life these words can also make us give up altogether. But God says different. For this post, I want to draw your attention to the verse below: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 NLT A couple of posts ago, we looked at Jeremiah 29:11. In that verse we see that God has good plans for us. He wants us to have a great, bright future. In the verse we just read, Paul re-emphasizes that same idea. God knows our lives. King David said it this way: “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know ...

Of course, you will. Of course, I will. We aren't perfect, and we will never be. The Bible says this: “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”” Romans 3:10, 12 NIV “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8 NIV In two different places in the Bible, we see that sin is a part of our life and that no one is exempt from sinning. So if that is true, why is "you will always sin" such an impactful voice on our lives? Because the Devil says it in our ear right after we have done something wrong. The Devil will push you toward something, and when you finally cave in, the Devil then says things like: “You're no good.” “Why did you even try to stop that addiction? You know you can't.” “You're worthless.” “You are what they tell you.” “God doesn't care.” “You ...

This is part two of a series of posts entitled "Voices". I encourage you to go back and read part one. In the last post we talked about loneliness and how all of the different voices we hear can drown out what God is trying to say to us. God has great things to say about us -- by the way -- and we need to try with everything we are to mute the voices that are competing with God's voice. Here is another phrase that we can sometimes hear - "You can't have a successful life." For this post I want to travel back to the Garden of Eden where we left the last post. Adam and Eve had just eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and God has provided them with clothes. Then God sent them out of the Garden: “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard th...

Life can be lonely. I'm sure that is a redundant statement. Many people would probably follow a statement like that with - "Duh!" I totally understand that.  Life can be lonely. People come and go in our life. People abandon us. People aren't always there to help when you need them. Let's be honest, people fail us.  But what do you do when you feel like God is failing you? When all you have is God and it feels like He isn't there?  Hebrews 13:5 says this: "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" Over the summer, I was met with the feeling described above. I really didn't know what do with all of this emotion. I knew the words in bold. I knew that God was there and that He would never leave, but I was still battling this feeling of loneliness. People told me that God was there with me. I heard pastors...