I, Mike Ott, have failed this church!

I have been watching this tv show called Arrow. The main character is a superhero that is attempting to rid the city of crime. When he encounters a crime boss or drug dealer, he openly announces to the individual "(their name), you have failed this city!"

The thought hit me today, I, Mike Ott, have failed this church.

When I read the Bible, I see how the church should be and how I should interact with the world. The questions start to flood my mind...How many times have I overlooked a need? How many times has the Spirit been leading and I have silenced Him? How many times have I went along with tradition and man's ways of doing things? How many times have I faltered because of fear and uncertainty? How many times have I failed my calling, my passion, my character, my mission, the church...

I have spent a lot of time in the community this week. Running into old friends and neighbors, and catching up with their lives. Spent an evening with Younglife and the Boys and Girls Club; interacting with staff and teenagers while eating wings and watching basketball. Observing people at Starbucks, McDonalds, and other places. Talking with people at the YMCA. My observations led to that our community is full of people that need Jesus! People that are hurting that need hope, they need healthy relationships from those in the church. They need food and shelter! They need God's love, YES, but they also need to see God's love pouring out of me as I interact with them! 

The great thing is that God's grace is so much bigger than my human attempts to be a good Christian. I can never even come close to what I should be doing, but because of God and His grace I can make an impact in this world! He takes my attempts and failures and uses them for His glory. He shows me how to look at people through His eyes, instead of my own eyes. He gives me a passion for people. He will help me overcome tradition, fear, insecurities, and my own limitations. He will turn the statement "I, Mike Ott, have failed this church" to "Mike Ott, I will use you to grow my church"

As always one of the events the teenagers love to be part of. We had a blast this year, and the lockin was so much better than last year. Equiped with 12 teenagers and 5 young adults, we played our hearts out. Who are these teens? Many are from our church, involved and plugged in. They in turn brought friends, something we as a church can learn from. Many churched and some unchurched teens were involved..,

What did some of the night look like? Nerf Wars! A combination of games; including Assassins, Capture the Flag, and Paintball style. Of course, probably two hours of Sardines in the dark. A pillow fight challenge, among other fun things throughout the ten hour period...

I say the night was a success, I made another great contact. A youth that came Wednesday night for youth group and then came back for our lockin. If connected in, the youth will be one of four youth connected into the church where a youth event was prominent; in 2014! The teenagers continued to build community within the group and got to know each other better. Plus they are getting great at inviting their friends, and their friends are becoming comfortable within our group of teens.

Thoughts on Winter Jam

As always, I left Winter Jam excited and saw God's hand on the event! We left Green Bay around 1:30 on Sunday afternoon March 23rd and did not back till 1:00 in the morning. The event was in Madison, Wisconsin and took us a few hours to get there. Winter Jam looked sold out, which meant there were around 10,000 people! Easy access at the door as you handed a ten dollar bill for entry and then went looking for the best seats you could find. Yep, ten bucks you can't beat that. As one guy said, "you paid one dollar tonight to see Lecrae!" 10 bucks to see 10 Christian bands. 

I was able to listen to Nick Hall and many of the main bands in the youth pastor area. I was really impressed with their passion and zeal for reaching teenagers! We had 5 teenagers and three young adults, and had a ton of fun. Nick Hall brought a great message to the youth, and some of what he said was brought up in our ride back to Green Bay. So far one of our best youth events if 2014, with many to come! Red Eye Night (church lock-in) in less than two weeks!!!

2 Misconceptions of the Holy Spirit

I believe that there are two misconceptions that we sometimes view the Holy Spirit. I'll define them by comparing them to two different "cousins."

The first cousin is, "Cousin It"

Cousin It is a relative of the Addams Family. If you are not familiar with the Addams Family; they were a group of fictional characters created by an American Cartoonist Charles Addams. Later, it became a tv show in the 1960's. In the show, cousin It came and visited the family from time to time. Sometimes, he would spend the night; but he never lived with the family. In the Old Testament, we see that the Spirit of God comes and goes in the lives of the Old Testament characters. In the New Testament, He is promised to those who calls on the name of Jesus and is promised to dwell in the life of the believer! Meaning the Holy Spirit is not like Cousin It who comes, visits, and leaves. The Holy Spirit comes, visits, and stays! He dwells within you! Leading, directing, guiding, comforting, teaching, filling you and so much more. You have the Holy Spirit living in you every day! God living inside you!

The second cousin is "Cousin Eddie"

Cousin Eddie is from the 1989 movie National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. A movie where anything can go wrong for Chicago resident Clark Griswold...In the movie, his cousin Eddie shows up; like if anything else could go wrong in his life, cousin Eddie would multiply the problems in Clark's life. When cousin Eddie shows up, life gets crazy, and things get awkward. Conversations are awkward. Meal times are awkward. Living conditions are awkward. The list of awkwardness goes on and on when cousin Eddie shows up. Maybe as I am describing cousin Eddie, you are thinking about that family member that shows up at family get togethers or perhaps, maybe you are cousin Eddie. The misconception is when the Holy Spirit shows up, that people have to start acting crazy and things have to get awkward. I am not saying that when the Holy Spiit is at work that things might not look crazy or feel awkward, but that we as Christians don't need to act crazy and awkward. I believe when we do that, we put the attention on us instead of giving God the glory. Another thought, goes back to the thought that if the Holy Spirit is alive and living inside us. Well then, He should be showing up on a daily basis in our lives! 

In wrap up, the Holy Spirit is active in the lives of the believer. He is always with us and will never leave us. We need to tap into His teaching and leading, allowing Him into all parts of our lives. In everything we do, we need to let the Holy Spirit be involved and give God the glory on the things that we do!

Always finding something new in the Bible! (Temptation of Jesus)

This past Sunday night we were looking at the passage where Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness. I caught something that I had never observed before! Here is the passage:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' " 7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' " 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." 10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' " 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Matthew 4:1-11 (NIV)

Each time that Jesus is tempted, He quotes Scripture. Not only that, He quotes from the Old Testament Law (the book of Deuteronomy). Even Satan quotes from Scripture (Psalm 91:11-12)! This is something I know and have taught on. BUT the thing I caught this time was based on Satan's use of Scripture...

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Psalm 91:11-12

Well, sounds great and it is quoted pretty good; but what if we kept reading in the chapter?

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. Psalm 91:13

If Satan knows the Scripture well enough to quote it; he knows what comes in verse 13! He was calling Jesus out in this passage. He was up for a "boxing match" with Jesus. He was challenging Jesus to make His move to fulfill Scripture at the pinnacle of the temple...Jesus could have easily quoted back verse 13 of Psalms and easily overcame Satan at this point; but He would have left the plan of the Father to redeem man! Instead, Jesus responds back to Satan by quoting Deuteronomy "Do not put the Lord God to the test." Jesus knew the plan, was in connection with the Father, and was going to continue to make His way to the cross! After his death on the cross He came back to life; and guess what? Verse 13 was achieved! Just like when a defeated enemy of the old was put to submission under the foot of the victor; Satan found himself under the foot of Jesus through victory of the cross!