A Friend of Caesar

John 19:1-16
Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. ² And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. ³ They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. ⁴ Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” ⁵ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” ⁶ When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” ⁷ The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” ⁸ When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. ⁹ He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” ¹¹ Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” ¹² From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” ¹³ So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” ¹⁵ They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” ¹⁶ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified."

So, last night in my personal study time, I was reading the story of Jesus' death. You know, I have often times felt bad for Pilate. He was put in such an awkward position by the Jews that wanted Jesus dead. It was obvious that he believed that Jesus was who He claimed to be. You could tell he was conflicted and didn't want to sentence Jesus to be crucified. Every time I read the story, I can feel his pain. But....last night I felt sorry for him in a different kind of way. I felt sorry for him because he was not brave enough to stand up for his beliefs. He was threatened with losing the support of Caesar, and because he didn't want to lose his status, he betrayed Jesus and sent Him to be sacrificed.

Power, greed, status & the fear of losing his own life motivated this poor man to kill the Son of God. This breaks my heart, not only for Pilate and the guilt he had to live with every living day of his life thereafter, but for the people of this world today. Just look around you. We see it everywhere we look. Heck, I am guilty of doing this very thing from time to time. Any person who says they are not is not being truthful with themselves.

In Matthew 10:33, Jesus says "but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." What do we do with this passage? Do we just read over it and shrug our shoulders and go on about our business? Or do we read it, acknowledge it and put these words into action? It is far better to be despised in our lifetime here on earth rather than being damned to hell for all eternity. Who's with me?

N24

Crossroad Youth is going through some amazing and exciting changes! The Holy Spirit is moving and it's so wonderful to be able to experience it first hand!

The leaders met a few months back and we talked about why we exist. I mean, what is our purpose and what do we want out of our group? What do we expect from our youth? Can we hold them accountable? Are they ready to grow? Do they want to grow? I believe that God has led us right to where He wants us! We decided that we needed to change our group name from 'Impact Student Ministries' to 'N24' which stands to iN 2 Christ, 4 His glory! Now we are coming up with a new logo so that we can get tshirts made and get this group out into the community and serve serve serve!

We now have Sunday School which is just known as N24, then on Wednesdays we have N24-"D" which stands for discipleship, and on Sunday nights, we now have N24-Live! which takes place of the 'Collide' that we used to have on the 3rd Wednesday of every month! speaking of which.....I better get going! Gotta prep some food for tonight! 2 hours til we go LIVE! 

Wrong Worship?

Hi friends! I know it's been a while! I've been trying to find time to post, but life has been busy! Kids went back to school today, so let's see if I can find more time here soon!

Anyways, a girlfriend of mine posted this on her facebook and I thought it was worthy to share. I really hope and pray that this is not me on stage, and I pray that it's not you either. This is why I like to pray that God makes me disappear and reveals Himself on stage on Sunday mornings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJp98hoqy5I&feature=player_embedded

Blessings~kel

He Knows My Name

So I went through a discipleship series with one of my mentors recently, and am now privileged enough to be discipling two other women. There are twelve lessons total and we are currently on the 2nd one. Lesson 2 is about The Word and how to read it and make it apply to your life. It is also about learning Who God is. We need to know His many names, the lesson calls for us to make an A-Z list of the names of God. We also focus on the fact that, not only are we to know His name(s), but He already KNOWS our name(s). Here is a little segment that we write out in our notebooks and I thought it would be nice to share with you.

God Knows My Name: Isaiah 43:1

(I am Family)

"I know your name"

"I am Your God" Isaiah 41:10

"I am in your corner"

"I will strengthen you....(insert your name here)"

Isaiah 40:31 "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary. They will knock and not faint."

I will take hold of your hand....I will help you."

Isaiah 41:13 "For I am the lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you 'Do not fear, I will help you.'"

I must know His name!

Psalm 9:10 "Those who know Your name trust in You."

I must love His name!

Psalm 5:11-12

• We will be blessed by Him
•  Surrounded with His shield of love
•  And therefore, filled with joy

God describes Himself in Exodus 34:5-7

How Great Is Our God

I know God answers prayer, but it never ceases to amaze me when He answers so quickly! See, two years ago Crossroad Church took a huge hit in losing our youth pastor. Our budget just couldn't afford him any longer, so he was asked to resign. Although that was painful, it was wonderful to sit back and watch God's hands on the entire situation. The youth pastor we had to let go went on to be the head pastor at a local church where he and his children were accepted with loving arms. It's been wonderful to see them recover from what appeared to be a strenuous hardship. God has blessed them and He has blessed their church tremendously! Losing Pastor Kent was an incredible hit for our youth group. It seems that when he left, everybody fell apart and we lost half of our group. It was then that I and the current youth leader were asked to step up and lead the group. What an honor that was for me. It felt like a huge accomplishment that God would finally entrust a group of teens to my care. I've always known, since I was 16, that my calling was with the youth. I never knew to what capacity until a couple years ago, but that is for another story. So, I was asked to be the female youth leader and I JUMPED on it!! I was ecstatic! Thrilled beyond all measure and I am still thrilled to be there.

It has, however, become aparent over the past year or so that the leaders we have in youth right now, including myself, are fillers. We are filling a spot that so desperately needs to be appointed by whoever God really has called to be there. When times get tough and there is a need, people will do what it takes to fill that void, but they are not neccessarily the appointed ones. Our youth group is in dire need of revamping and...well...REVIVAL! We need a leader that is called into the position. The kids deserve to have someone that is readily available to them. At their accesss at all times. Someone that is able to invest time and effort into their lives. A husband/wife team that are working on the same page with the same purpose in mind. I have been praying for God to deliver this man to us, and I believe He is answering my prayers!

Last Wednesday night I was introduced to a precious couple that were interested in the youth. I invited them to come and hang with us and they did! He is a marine that is currently going to seminar with the goal of becoming a youth pastor. He and his amazing wife have a sweet 1 year old baby girl. During our lesson, he asked if he could expound on the lesson and of course I was thrilled to hear what he had to say! As he spoke, I could not help but allow my jaw to hit the floor!! I KNEW!! I knew at that very second that this was the man that God had in plan for us! They said they were going to visit a couple other churches and pray about where God would have them be. They met with Pastor D and today I was told that they felt that God is leading them to us!! HOOORAYYYY!!!

We have a few wrinkles to iron out before they just jump right in, but praise God for answered prayer!!

Saving The Best For Last...??

You know the saying...we've all heard "I'm saving the best for last," but when it comes to quality time with God, isn't our first the best? In the Bible, on multiple accounts, we are called to bring God our "firstruits." When we tithe, we are to tithe from our Gross income, not the Net....firstruits. The same goes for our time spent in His presence. If we think we are saving our best for last and waiting until bed time to come into the presence of the Lord, we are doing a great disservice to ourselves and to the Lord. What happens when we wait until the end of our day to spend time with God? By that time we are beat up from the stressful events that took place during our day and we are exhausted. Our minds are so filled with the memories of the day and trying to get our thoughts in order that we are scatterbrained and cluttered making it nearly impossible to truly focus on Who exactly it is we are speaking to. I have found that if I wait too long I become very drowsy and will fall asleep mid prayer. If I don't fall asleep first, my mind will wander and suddenly I am thinking about things that are so far off topic that I forget that I was even talking to God. On the good days when I've had an essentially stressfree day and I feel energized by the time I get around to my devotional time, I find that if I had only started my day off with that scripture passage, what a difference it would have made in my day...in my attitude...in my encounters with those in need. 

It takes 21 days to create a habit....I challenge you.....for 21 days, instead of hitting the snooze button repeatedly, get up the first time your alarm rings and give God your firstfruits. Go make some coffee or tea and take it with you to a quiet place that you can be undisturbed. Spend 20-30 minutes reading the Bible and listening to what He has to say to you. Write it down and share it with at least one person during the day. 21 days...can you do it? I believe that you can!  

The Great Commission

Crossroad Church has been blessed so much this past year, and I am incredibly thrilled to be a part of it! There is so much growth and healing in our midst and it's very exciting! This year we were blessed to gain David and PJ Yount into our church family! They are incredible sheppards and have introduced our church to an incredible discipling tool. It is a series of 12 lessons that they wrote and published themselves. The series is titled 'How to Grow' and focuses on discipleship of new believers and old believers alike.

I began my own discipleship on 12/2/10 and today, I began descipling my eldest son's girlfriend Meg. She is such a sweet girl and I just love her to death! She was the first that came to mind when I was told I would become a discipler after completing my own series. At first I was hesitant because I feared a conflict of interest with me being her boyfriend's mom, youth leader and friend; however, I could not shake her from my heart and mind. I am so glad I did not pass this up! We had such an amazing lesson today and were able to share so much, so freely with eachother. We laughed, we cried, we got serious...it was everything I hoped it would be and more!

As of this very moment, I am discipling 2 women, and have one that we're just waiting to find a good meeting time. This, I have come to realize, is what this life is all about! This is the great commission! Matthew 28:19-20 says:

 "19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

I am honored and thankful for this wonderful opportunity to do what I was created to do! I love my ladies and look forward to growing relationships and many years to come of faithful service to the One I love most! Thank You sweet Lord, for loving me and allowing me to love You in return! ~Amen