Author: pastortoney

Have you ever been in a mess? If we are all honest most of our lives have been messes. We think that we know better than the other people who have lived through the same things. So we often follow the same paths that lead to the mess. We find story after story in the Bible how Jesus would take peoples messes and turn them into messages of forgiveness or grace. This Christmas as we gather with family and friends let us take our mess and allow Jesus to make a message out of us. You see He has already begun the process of restoration in your life that is if you have trusted Him as your Lord and Savior. Why don’t we quit pretending to be something that we aren’t and allow people to see what we really are. I know that isn’t popular because they might think less of us. Truth is told they are hoping that you are as messed up as they are, so they will fit in. Let us be honest with people about our Clark Griswold style of life, and then show them how Jesus is working with our lives to make a message. So just go ahead and give up on being perfect and trust the work of our perfect Savior.

Christmas Miracles are things that we dream of if we are honest. We all want the surprise of our gifts under the tree. We teach our children that a man named Santa brings them in while we sleep and eats the cookies we make. The miracles we expect range from toys to repaired relationships. The funny thing is that we expect this mystery man named Santa to provide the miracle. Have we really forgotten what Christmas is all about? What the true miracle really was? We teach our children to believe in a man that doesn’t exist anymore, and then we wonder why they struggle to believe in Jesus? Now before you get twisted I have allowed my children to believe in Santa to a degree. I think that it is ok for the kids to use their imaginations; we just need to make sure that Santa doesn’t get top billing over Jesus. After all it is Jesus’ birthday. Let us start this year praying for Christmas Miracles for our friends and family. All the while knowing that the true miracle was the birth of Jesus and it is He that because of his birth, death and resurrection has the desire to grant miracles to us. Let us also remember that Jesus will use us to provide Christmas miracles to people if we will just be obedient. Let us remember Jesus is the reason for the season.

With yet the revealing of another fellow minister of the Gospel falling because of sin.  I am forced to look at myself and many other preachers, pastors or workers of the Gospel.  We all understand that the enemy is doing everything that he can to destroy the furtherance of the Gospel.  Let us as fellow christians not be so quick to throw stones, let us take the time to thank God for the protection He has provided.  You see I applaud Clayton Jennings for having the desire to please God and use his own mistakes as a possible stepping stone for others.  Often times we as preachers are placed on a pedestal whether by choice or chance.  People seem to look at us and our families as the model of perfection.  That is the wrong view of the Gospel.  There is one perfect person and His name is Jesus, not Toney.  We tend to hide things in our lives because if others found out about it they would say that we are unfit for the position that God has called us to.  Let is kinda funny to me.  If God wants you out of the position then I think He can remove you.  There are many people out there now starting to develop resources for pastors to get help with depression or other battles that occur in their lives.  We as the family of God need to lift these men and others up in prayer.  We need to present ourselves as a friend and resource.  Once again let us not be like the Pharisees and throw stones all the while hiding what is in our lives.

It is that time of year again. Do you feel any different? Yes I know that it is cold outside, but it is the Holidays. Aren’t you as excited as I am? We are preparing to eat turkey and stuffing. Yeah some of you might have had vegetables. Now we get to put up the Christmas tree and all the lights to go with this season. I remember as a child I would dream of what it would be like to have a big family who all gathered around the table and the tree together. You know what I mean? Isn’t that the picture that society has told us should take place? Do you happen to know anyone who has the perfect family? I don’t. What I want all of to realize is that there are people this holiday season that is spending it by themselves. Some by choice and others by circumstances. You can probably stop right now, think, now look around you probably have just seen someone I am talking about. We all just thought of someone or saw someone. What do we do about it? We don’t want to ask if there is anything that we can do, because they might tell us. That would cause us to get out of our comfort zone, wouldn’t it? Let us be the church in everything we do, and at all times of the year. If you know someone who is spending this time of the year by himself or herself, invite them to join you and your family. Maybe it is a single parent who you know is struggling this season, why not step out in faith and help them out. Let us who have received the gift of a perfect family (in Heaven), help keep Jesus as the reason for the Season.

Did you hear me?  Do you see my lips moving and hear the words coming out of my mouth?  Or are you just listening?  I will sometimes play music while I read or even while I am typing my blog.(like now)  I don’t really hear anything that is being sang, but just have the background noise to listen to.  We have people who do the same things in their marriages. The scariest part of doing that in your marriage is that you might miss something super important.  I would have to say that we are guilty of doing the same thing when a preacher stands to share what God has given for you.  We go through a range of emotions during that thirty min period.  Like who does he think he is talking to me like that.  Or they didn’t even say hi to me and now look what he is saying.  Maybe we don’t like what is happening at the church house, so we come not to hear from God but to show we aren’t happy.  You see regardless of what keeps you from hearing God, when we decide to just listen it is like background noise.  We completely and totally miss what was being said by the Holy Spirit to us.

We all have said man that is hard.  Wether it is about a job, sport or even a particular topic of discussion.  I had one of those moments last night.  We discussed the question “If it is really against the Bible to live a homosexual lifestyle?”  I know it isn’t a popular topic of discussion in church.  It is much like the money talk or the premarital sex talk.  But society has made a push on the topic and if we really are going to love people the way Jesus loves them we must be willing to tell them the truth.  Now I didn’t say to do it in hate but love.  The Bible has a lot to say on the topic of homosexual lifestyle.  The Bible from beginning to end condemn such a lifestyle.  Regardless of what some religious leaders may say today.  You have to realize that not one of those leaders have the right to their opinion.  The One who created us and then gave himself for us has the only opinion that will matter in Eternity.  You might say you haven’t really talked about the topic.  Your right, you can listen to the message on iTunes at bayshorebc or go to our website at http://www.visitbayshore.org.  If you are Facebook friends or follow our church page @bayshorebc you can see the video of the discussion.  Just remember no matter how hard the conversation if God says to do it, He will provide the words.

As a child I watched a lot of cartoons.  I was like most kids I am sure.  Never would I think that they would have an impact on my life, much less help me understand the Bible.  I watched cartoons like Roadrunner and the Coyote.  I look at that and realize that we will eventually pay for everything that we do.  Nothing goes unanswered for.  My favorite cartoon and the one that has taught me the most was one called Voltron.  It was a cartoon that had five robotic lions.  These lions were super cool and could do all kinds of things by themselves.  Like one could go deep into the ocean, while one could go into volcanoes.  Individually these lions accomplished a lot, but when they worked together they would form a mega robot called Voltron.  You see two would become the arms, while two became the legs and the final one would form the body.  Together Voltron could defeat anyone.  I loved that cartoon.  As I sit back and think about that it reminds me of what the Apostle Paul says about the church.  He called some of us hands, feet, and other parts of the same body with Jesus being the head of that body.  When we come together there is nothing that can stop the body.  It is not to say that problems or swaddles don’t come up, they did in Voltron.  What I remember about them is what we need to remember about our body.  Without all five lions Voltron could not form and accomplish what was needed.  Our body is the same, it takes all parts to make us productive.

All over the world we see crazy things happening.  We all make statements like it is the way people were raised, its the people they hang out with or the place that they live.  There is ways some type of blame that we try to put on others.  Now what I am about to say is going to upset most of you that are reading this.  Some of you will just say that I have completely fallen off my rocker.  Some might say that you knew I would finally show my true colors.  Some others might say who does he think he is or how dare he say that.  Let me say just say that this isn’t my opinion.  But the blame lies squarely on our shoulders.  Whose shoulders you might be saying, the Church.  There I said it, get mad quit reading, call me, email me.  I said it, the Church is who gets the blame for all the crazy stuff going on.  We the believers have sat back and watched the world implode.  The Bible is clear whose fault it is.  The world lives the way a natural man lives.  They are lost and do what lost people do.  It is called sin.  Now I’m not saying that we don’t sin, but what I am saying is that God has left us instructions on how to live and how to behave.  We have just boarded ourselves up in our ivory towers and refused to go out and share the news with the world.  So you see the problems in schools with kids, the problems in the streets with adults, the problem in homes with parents are all the fault of the Church.  As Nehemiah says in the first chapter of his book, It is I and my father’s house that have sinned against you, understand that I am saying that we know how to act and what to do.  If we know how to act or behave and don’t share it with others then we don’t get to sit back and point fingers when they do things that we know they shouldn’t do.  Let’s take responsibility and share what God has taught us.

It is so easy for me to want to look down at people or even accuse people of things.  We all I think have this trait inside us.  We see people who maybe down on their luck and instantly want to make harsh judgements about how or why they are that way.  Maybe you see someone in a store that has tattoos all over or piercings and we tend to drift away from that person because of some preconceived fear.  How in the world can we get better at this?  I didn’t say how do we get to where we won’t ever do that.  We can begin to fix our tendencies when we begin to look at people as what they really are……. God’s creation in a fallen state of sin.  You see the way we do that is we actually spend time looking in the mirror.  When we realize that we are exactly the same as that homeless person or the gothic that was in the store our view of them will change.  I am careful to say that we can begin to work on changing that behavior not rid ourselves of it forever.  We all have a tendency to do the things we don’t want to.  Jesus hung out with the people in his day that would be just like the ones we tend to quickly judge or stay away from.  You see Jesus has the ability to see their hearts where we don’t have the same ability.  For us it has to be that we realize that we are exactly the same as they are, and the difference in our lives now is the Grace of God.  I want us all to know that we have a chance to watch people transformed from the inside out.  You have a special gift that can be shared…….the gift of Jesus, the gift of Hope, the gift of Love.  Let us all this day begin to look at people through the glasses of the Gospel and take the worldly glasses off.