Author: Mark

Hubby to the greatest gal, Pastor of an amazing community, brother to a bunch of people called my family, lover of God, follower of Jesus.

Crossing the line

On By MarkIn Gospel, Pray, SalvationLeave a comment

I know it’s just an expression. But around here, it means something.  Often as I tell someone about the good news of God’s love and grace toward them, I finish by telling them they need to cross the line.  You know, like make a decision. Take a stand.  Do it.

The gospel is simple, not easy.  We are sinners. All of us. God made us, loves us, hates our sin. Jesus was sent to us by His father. God in the flesh. Jesus is all God, as is the Holy Spirit.  Jesus lived a sinless life. Died on the cross in my place. Took all my sin upon Himself.  He paid the price I would never be able to pay. He did that for me.  He came out of the tomb. Risen!  Death conquered.  He did that for me.

Then in His amazing grace, He brings that message to me.  And to you. We have only two responses. Reject it, or accept it. To reject it is pretty stupid actually.  It’s to tell God, thanks but no thanks, I got this.  Lot of people make that decision.  To accept it is to acknowledge the message as true. Jesus is God, He did die for your sins, and He did it all so you could be in a relationship with Him, just like we were created to be.  He loves you. Hates your sin. Our sin cost Jesus his life. But, after He shed his blood and died for our sins, He arose and now we can have true life with Him by faith in Him. Believing Him and the message God has now given us. Accept it. Repent of your sin. Confess you’re a sinner before God. That means tell God you get it. You’re a sinner and He’s our only hope, because He died in our place!

That’s it. Pray to God now. Tell him.  Acknowledge you’re a sinner before a holy God who loves you and has made a way for you to be reconciled with God. That’s through Jesus. He did it all for you.  Now, cross the line of faith.

Want to read about it? Romans 3:10-11, 21-23; 5:1-11; 6:23; John 3:16; 1 John 1:9; 5:13

A few more days

On By MarkIn Jesus!, ZacLeave a comment

Today I got to spend a few hours painting.  I’m not a painter by trade, so for me, I can enjoy it and not touch it again for several years.  One of the things I like about painting alone is it’s easy to think and process, even as I listen to some good music.

As I was thinking of Zac on this day he would have turned 35, I heard two songs that seemed very appropriate. I tend to like most everything Third Day has done, but one of my all time faves is Cry Out To Jesus.  “To everyone who’s lost someone they love long before it was their time, you feel like the days you had were not enough when you said goodbye… there is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary and love for the broken heart and there is grace and forgiveness mercy and healing, he’ll meet you where ever you are, cry out to Jesus!”

Matthew West came on a few minutes later “So I wait for the moment when you come for me…and I can’t stop thinking, just a few more days I’ll be going home, just a few more hours and I’ll be flying, it could be any minute now that you take me away, or maybe just a few more days. To You a day is like a thousand years, and only you know when the clouds will clear. So let me not forget.

I miss Zac. But his life and death remind me how short our time on planet earth is until Jesus either takes us home or comes to get us.  Really, just a few days. What we do each and everyday matters as we follow the Lord and bring honor to Him by telling others of His great and amazing love and grace.

I was encouraged.

Thank you dear God, for Zac and for today and for the joy of living a life that is granted by You.

Now I’ll go have some French Silk pie, for Zac.

A Growing Faith

On By MarkIn Bible, GRACE, Jesus!, TheologyLeave a comment

If you missed Grace yesterday, you can hear the sermon here.

A few thoughts to think about during this week:

  • God is both incomprehensible and knowable, yes, He’s THAT big!
  • It all started with God: first 4 words Gen 1:1
  • God, in His goodness revealed Himself to us through general revelation Ps 19:1-6
  • God, in His grace has revealed Himself to us through special revelation; His Word and His Son!  Ps 19:7-14; Jn 14:6-7
  • My faith will grow as I exercise it
  • My faith is built on an everlasting GREAT God who loves me and gave Himself for me
And to apply it all:
  • Am I believing God for what I’m about to do?
  • By faith, what do I believe God is asking me to do?

Honoring First Responders

On By MarkIn Community, Flagstaff, ThanksLeave a comment

On Sunday September 11, 2011 our nation will remember that horrific day ten years ago. A day we all remember where we were, what we were doing and that terrible unsettled feeling of ‘what next’. On that day our church will choose to remember by honoring those that serve our community as first responders. There are many issues and complicated layers of issues that arose from the events of 9-11. One positive note is that we as Americans were reminded how fortunate we are to have men and women who serve us by providing protection, civil rest, and even going so far as to put their lives on the line each day they put on the uniform. We are grateful.

On that Sunday at Grace we’ll pause for a few moments and say “Thanks”.
If you or someone you know serves throughout Northern Arizona, please come and be our guest on Sunday, 9-11-11.

Grace Community Church meets at Sinagua Middle School, our regular service time is 10 – 11:30am.

‘Twas the night before school…

On By MarkIn Community, Flagstaff, Gospel, GRACELeave a comment

First of all, I do realize that many have already started school. Humor me as I write this for all of our Gracers headed back to school this fall, or summer as it is.

Here’s my prayer for each of you whether you are in Flag unified, private, Christian, charter, or home schooled:

God, bless our kids.
Help them to grow and learn and laugh
May this school year be exceptional because each of them are
May each one know and see You as they study Your world
May each one know Your amazing love as they make friends and find acceptance among others
May each find joy in discovering who You’ve made them to be
May each one feel safe because they trust You and the plans You have for them
May they express grace and kindness especially on the days it seems undeserved
May they be bold in sharing Your story with others
May they be quick to praise You for who You are and how You are working
And may they never be ashamed of Your Son, Jesus!
May Your Spirit fill and guide them
God, use them to change the world
Bless them LORD, bless each one.

Organized Praise

On By MarkIn Bible, WorshipLeave a comment

At Grace we are currently in a series entitled, Psalms of Summer.  A few weeks ago I taught from Psalm 34. You can hear the sermon here if you’d like.

What I didn’t tell you that day was that this psalm is one of a few that is written in an acrostic.  Simply put, David went down the Hebrew alphabet as he penned each new verse. As you may know, the Bible was not written with chapter and verse markings, so he simply wrote this poem in acrostic style then later numbers were added to denote verses.

So here’s a quick thought for you today. What if you wrote out a prayer or praise to God using our alphabet? Write out a poem, speaking about God and why we praise Him. Or maybe make a list of things in your life that you give Him praise for. Perhaps write one word for each letter of the alphabet, each saying something about God. For instance, Awesome, Beautiful, Compassionate…

Go ahead. Give it a try. I bet it’s a worshipful experience you won’t soon forget.

Back from Break

On By MarkIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Apparently I took a 6 week break from blogging. Today, I break the silence, set up the keyboard, and get to work.

Summer in Flagstaff has been amazing, and there’s quite a bit going on in the Smith world and the world of Grace. For now, I simply say hello and forgive me if I send too much over the next few days. I feel like catching up. If you follow along on Twitter or FaceBook, you’ve probably not missed too much.

I know we say it all the time, but really, where did the summer go? It’s already August and therefore it’s time to focus on the fall season. Not sure I’m ready for that.

The Righteousness of Christ

On By MarkIn GRACE, Identity, Theology3 Comments

In our study yesterday on the Armor of God in Eph 6, I briefly hit on each of the six pieces of the armor.  One thing I realized as I studied the passage is the importance to understand the objective and subjective means of each piece of hardware. Let me explain.

Objective truth (as in the belt of truth) is that there is truth. God is truth. He does not lie. Jesus said, “I am the truth.” (Jn14:6)  It’s a fact. It’s now a position I have because Jesus has saved me. I know and believe in the truth.

Subjective truth means that my practice (how I live truth, in honesty, integrity, telling the truth, living from a position of the truth of God) is my response to the objective truth.  When I look at the armor of God, I’m going to ask, ‘Is this truth the objective truth of God, or is it my subjective response (being truthful, etc) to God’s objective Truth?’  My answer: BOTH.  My subjective behavior is based SOLELY on the objective fact of ‘God is Truth’. His indwelling Holy Spirit allows me to know this and to live it out, only by His power.

The same is true regarding Righteousness (breastplate of righteousness). The objective truth of righteousness is that I am NOW fully complete in Christ, clothed in His righteousness, because of Who He is (Righteous) and what He’s done for me (I am made righteous because of the cross, Rom 3:21-22; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9).  The objective truth of righteousness is that I have a new standing with God. I’m not partially righteous, needing to work hard so that I can get more righteous.  It can’t be God’s righteousness if I have to try and earn it, or if it’s not complete!

Subjective righteousness refers to ‘what I do with the righteousness of Christ’.  I have a responsibility to live FROM my righteous standing with God.  This is the key to sanctification.  Again, the Holy Spirit empowers me to live out the righteousness of Christ (integrity, honesty, making wise and ‘right’ choices, seeking counsel, etc) based on the objective truth of the righteousness I have because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Here’s the verse I couldn’t find in Sunday’s sermon: Rom 6:13! Also: 1 Cor 1:30; 1 Tim 6:11

Book Review – Everyday Greatness

On By MarkIn Book ReviewsLeave a comment

My Take on Everyday Greatness – Inspiration for a Meaningful Life; a Readers Digest book, compiled by David K. Hatch with insights and commentary by Stephen R. Covey, published by Rutledge Hill Press

Only after reading the book, did I see how the Title nails it!  Upon picking out the book I wasn’t aware of the format. The title grabbed me because I like Covey’s stuff and I wanted his take on a “meaningful life”.

The words ‘Reader’s Digest’ should have given it away. Everyday Greatness is a compilation of a many authors on a wide variety of topics all dealing with personal character.  Though it wasn’t what I expected, I grew to appreciate the inspiring short stories in true RD form.

As an avid Twitter-user, I especially enjoyed the “Further Insights” at the end of each section. After reading two or three short stories on a topic, like Integrity, there follows two to four pages of very short, almost one-liners (they could be tweets!) that come from a wide variety of mostly well known authors, actors, proverbs and presidents and your general ‘larger than life’ kind of people.

Covey’s part was clearly the weakest.  Oftentimes he gives a paragraph or two after the stories and before the Insights. The compilation of stories and Insights was enough.

Now it becomes a reference in my library. I won’t be giving the book away and I’m sure I’ll refer to it often in preparing my sermons.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Remembering

On By MarkIn Cancer, Family, God's Glory, Laurie, Zac4 Comments

Laurie had just completed her last treatment for breast cancer.  That was on Thursday. Our rejoicing was cut short, by making immediate plans to go to South Carolina to be with Mandy and her kids.  We didn’t expect Zac to be alive by the time we arrived.  As memory serves, it seems that from about Wednesday on, he was ready to go and seemed to be on his way to see Jesus.

We arrived Saturday night . . . me; my wife, Laurie; my sister, Barbara; and Zac’s sister, Stacey.  I remember arriving late and needing food.  I’d say it’s a Smith-thing, but really, we all gotta eat. The only thing, or at least the first thing we found, was a Waffle House. This would be a new experience.

Sunday morning, Stacey left our hotel and went right over to the house to say good-bye to her brother.  It wasn’t long after that we were invited to stop by as well.  I remember the mixed emotions of going to say goodbye to a young man that I loved dearly, my nephew, and a real good friend.  After a time, and some prayer, the family made their way to church while I stayed back with Mandy in case she needed any help.

After church, my brother, Jim, took the whole gang out to find some lunch while Mandy and Sharon remained close by.  After lunch as we were driving back, the cell phone rang.

Being there to say good-bye to Zac was a special moment.  Knowing Zac was much more rewarding.  I, along with those that knew him, had no doubts as to his faith in Jesus.  As sure as I’m sitting here right at this moment, I knew what happened to Zac one year ago on that Sunday afternoon.  Everyone that knew him loved him and would miss him greatly. And we still do.

In God’s sovereign care of Zac and Mandy, He moved them to Anderson, South Carolina where Mandy remains today and where Zac was given an amazing platform to share his story and where we all watched as God would use a couple of videos to tell countless numbers of his confidence in God’s goodness and His glory.

Tomorrow, is the one year anniversary of the day Zac went to be with Jesus.  It was the 16th, which this year falls on Monday.  Just a couple of nights ago, Laurie and I were reminded that she has been cancer-free for a year.

We remember and we rejoice. We rejoice in God’s grace, His kindness, His plans, His mercy, the life He gives us, the days that He has already numbered for each of us. We rejoice that He’s God and He’s got this.  He’s got us.

This weekend I’ll think of Zac a lot more. And I’ll think of his sweet wife and three pretty cool kids.  I’ll pray for them and for his mom and dad and his sister. And I’ll think of Zac’s message that is just as true a year later: God is still God, and God is still good. To God be the glory.


“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Psalm 116:15

“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Psalm 42:11