Coffee Shop Logo

As some of you know, recently I began thinking about opening a coffee shop after I graduate from college. I want a place where local bands (because there are whole lot of them) can play on the weekends and get their name out there. I want a place where "known" bands can come and play. I would like to have a bible study/ sermon on Tuesday evenings for teenagers around town (parents are welcome too), so it does not interfere with the youth groups they are already involved in or if they aren't they will have a place to connect. I want a place where teenagers can come and hang out. A place where parents will know they are safe and were youth can have a good time. I know God has called me into youth ministry, eventually I believe to be a youth evangelist/ speaker, so this is where I believe my first step begins. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Here is a logo I came up with for the shop. A name I thought of the other day "The Company" really stuck with me, but knowing me that will change within a week :)

John 3:16

John 3:16 "For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

God, θεος (theh'-os), loved the world. Many translations say God loved the world SOOO (emphasis added) much that He gave His Son. Indicating the God’s love for humanity was so vast that He gave Jesus. While that is a true statement, God giving Jesus was not a result of His love, but an expression of His love. What the verse says is God loved the world “ουτως” (hoo'-to) or “in this way.” God expression of His love for humanity was the giving of Jesus as sins final and perfect sacrifice. Christ was God’s sole child, His only heir, the “only begotten,” one of a kind. For what purpose? What was the purpose of giving the sacrifice? To open the gate to eternal life. All those who believe, entrust their life, commit, have faith in Jesus (action required on our part) inherit eternal life. All those who don’t will “αποληται” (be destroyed fully).

Sometimes it is good to review verses that we often overlook because they are “common.” Share this verse with someone and tell them about God’s expression of His love for them.

Where Does My Help Come From? [Psalm 121:1-2]

Psa 121:1 I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from?

Psa 121:2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

This psalm written by King David gives us such a visual word picture of the scenario being described. We imagine a man in the bottom of a valley, all alone. A man looking up and seeing at the top of the mountains that make up this valley, enemies on every mountain crest. Bows and arrows drawn the enemy is ready to finish the man off. With such an advantage, their arrows would gain speed traveling down the mountain side into the valley below. What is the man to do? He could sit and wait in the valley, but the enemy would likely charge. He could take his chances by running up the mountain, but being totally surrounded his chances of survival are slim. What is the man to do? Where will his help come from?

We have all felt this way before. We get ourselves into situations or situations seem to just find us where there seems to be no escape. Any effort that we give to set ourselves free seems hopeless. The world seems to surround us, waiting for us to move in the slightest direction, so they can strike. Where will our help come from? God does not want us to live in that state of fear. He does not want us to wonder who will rescue us from the danger. He will. We must call out to Him. He will rescue us.

Aaron

[Illustration modified from sermon at Thomas Road Baptist Church, "Christ's Fearless Ones"]

Look to the Night Sky [Psalm 19:1-2]

Psa 19:1 For the choir director. A Davidic psalm. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
Psa 19:2 Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.

“People would live their lives differently if they would just occasionally look into the night sky.” I heard this quote a few nights ago and it really struck me. Over the next few days, that quote and this verse in Psalm 19 continued to resonate through my mind. So, after work one night, I decided to take a moment to look into the night sky. At that moment, all my problems, worries, distractions, literally everything disappeared and it was just me and God. I can say from personal experience that I allow my problems to be “bigger than God” and sometime I think that God may not be able to handle what I’m going through. Do you ever feel that way? It was that night that it was all put into perspective again. God, who created all that I can see in the sky, the moon, the stars, the “blackness”, the immeasurable expanse of space, truly cares about what is bothering me. Before He can help, He wants our full attention. That night God got my full attention.

If you are struggling, stressed or just seem to be distracted, look at the night sky. God is all around us and cares, sometimes we just need simple reminder.

Are you running well? [Galatians 5:7]

Gal 5:7 You were running well. Who prevented you from obeying the truth?

From the outside looking in, what can other people say about your walk with Christ? How is it going? Are you daily developing that relationship into a deeper intimacy? Or are you neglecting the salvation that you have received? The greatest testimony that a Christians has is the life that they live. More specifically, allowing Christ to live that life through them. When this happens the world around us can’t help, but see Jesus. Again, how are you doing?

Apparently, the Christians that Paul is addressing in Galatia were at one time doing well in the “race of faith.” At one point in time they were “running well.” Come time of this writing that was not longer the case. No longer did they have drive in their Christian life. He then poses them with the question, “Since you are not doing so well now, why not?” (My paraphrase). The word we see translated here as “prevented” is ανεκοψεν which means “hinder or drive back.” Paul’s question is “what is hindering you,” “what is causing you to go back from the truth?” Why were they no longer allowing Christ to live through them?

If you are running well then take Paul’s statement as “You are running well!” and praise God for His working in your life. If you are not, ask yourself why? I’m sure you know.

Aaron

Out of Your Mind [2 Corinthians 5:13]

2Co 5:13 For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we have a sound mind, it is for you.

Are you crazy about God? Did you know its ok to be a little “nuts?” Christians need to have such excitement for God that we can not hold it in! We need to be so amazed at what God is doing in us that we seem to be a little “out of our minds!” It’s when we are like that that we are bringing praise to God. The Bible does not tell us to sit in a pew, fold our hands, wear a halo, hum a monotone sound and stare at the sky. How can we do that serving the God we do?

Tyndale says it well: “if we are esteemed to be sane, and sober-minded, as we trust you will admit us to be, it is for your sake. Whatever may be the estimate in which we are held, we are influenced by love to God, and love to man. In such a cause, we cannot but evince zeal and self-denial which may expose us to the charge of mental derangement.”

Are you out of your mind? Wait, out of your mind for God?

Aaron

You Can't Do It On Your Own [2 Corinthians 4:3-4]

2Co 4:3 But if, in fact, our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
2Co 4:4 Regarding them: the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Have you ever tried to do it on your own? Well, maybe I should clarify; have you ever tried to share the gospel on your own? We all have those times where we leave God out of the “equation.” According to this verse, we will fail 100% of the time if we do that. Why you ask? To those who are not believers, the message of the gospel is a riddle. They do not understand it; it is almost like reading another language. Their “spiritual eyes” have been covered by a cloak that does not allow them to see Jesus. There is good news though! Jesus can remove that cloak. He can lift it off and let His light shine through to them. I can’t do it, you can’t do, only Jesus can do it.

Next time you have the opportunity to share the gospel message (remember: ask God for those opportunities!), make sure you ask Jesus for His help. It is only through His power that the message can even get to their hearts.

Aaron

Distractions [Colossians 4:17]

Col 4:17 And tell Archippus, "Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it."

Do you ever find yourself becoming distracted by life? In this world of technology, it is very easy to get lost in other “stuff” and not focus on our ministries for the Lord. With such “necessities” as facebook and myspace, we can find ourselves caught up in “biblical debates” with no definite end (not that I have ever done that!). How about television? How much time do we spend watching the Olympics compared to preparing for our next ministry event or class? We find ourselves so enveloped in what seems “important” that in reality, we are ignoring what deserves our full attention. There is so much that we are confronted with on a daily basis that can deter us from serving the Lord. What are we missing out on because of this?

Refocus your time. Refocus your focus. What has God called you to do? Are you devoting the proper amount of time to it? Or are you not “paying attention” to your ministry?

Refocus.

Aaron

Open Doors [Colossians 4:3-4]

Col 4:3 At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message, to speak the mystery of the Messiah--for which I am in prison--
Col 4:4 so that I may reveal it as I am required to speak.

Isn’t it nice to be comfortable? To have a place to live, to have enough food to eat, to have plenty of friends; comfort is almost viewed as a necessity. We don’t only like to be comfortable with our “things,” but also our “me space.” It seems the majority of us like to live in our little “bubble” and only allow certain people in. What about those that need to hear about Jesus? Are we pushing them away without even knowing it? Just so we can be “comfortable?” What would happen if prayed this prayer like Paul requests? Not only if we prayed it, but actually meant it. What if we truly desired to no longer be comfortable; no longer satisfied with an average Christian walk? How would our lives be different if we asked God to “open doors?”

Paul was never one to settle for comfortable or average. He was one of the most influential men the Christian world has ever seen. He tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.” How about we start here? Ask God to open doors for you to share His story.

Aaron

Following the Leader [Galatians 2:11-13]

Gal 2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.
Gal 2:12 For he used to eat with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.
Gal 2:13 Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

I’m sure we have all heard the song “Following the Leader” and the famous line, “following the leader, wherever he may go…” The question is: Is this always right? We see in this passage the Jews separating from the Gentiles. Specifically, Paul mentions Peter no longer eating with the Jews and it seems that he even gathered a large following to separate with him. Even Baranabas fell into this trap.

Even though the leader is doing it does not always make it right. We have to make the decision based on what we know and read from God’s Word. What does it say? Does what my leader is asking me to do go against it? How should I respond? What should I do instead?
Our leaders deserve our respect and admonition, but don’t ever just “go with the flow.” Confirm what they say and develop your own conclusions based on truth.

Aaron Taylor

Riding the River [2 Peter 1:3]

2Pe 1:3 For His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

Upon reading Hebrews 2, we see that God will bring punishment on believers who neglect His commandments. The illustration can be given based on the first two verses of someone floating down a raging river, drowning. At each point along there descent down the river there is a life vest just within reach; all the person would have to do is reach out and grab it. This is comparable to our lives as believers. We make decisions each day that can send us down this “raging river” without a life vest, where we can do nothing, but continue to drown. If we make decisions that are in agreement with God’s Word, it is as if we are floating down the river with the vest on. There is nothing to worry about because we are in the safety of the floatation device.

So, why do we make these wrong choices? We tend to blame it on “self” or “the temptation to sin got the best of me,” but if have died to sin and self (Romans 6), why do we continue to allow it to rule our lives? That’s a question you have to ask yourself. God has given us everything we need to live a life pleasing to Him, the moment you and I got saved. Everything we need for godly living was imputed to us at salvation. We choose to ignore it.

While that does seem grim and dark (it is!) there is hope! Remember back to the live vest illustration, at each point along the river the vest is always within reach. At each point in “bad decisions,” Jesus is right there waiting for us to turn back to Him. Where are you at now? Are you in the safety of the vest or trying to go down the river by your own strength?

Aaron Taylor