Archive for February, 2008
You Have Unbelievable Potential February 29, 2008
I believe in people.
I just do!
I believe that every person on this planet has an incredible potential to do great things for God and live a life that is so far beyond their imagination.
I believe that once Jesus Christ comes into to someone’s life–there isn’t ANYTHING that can get in their way IF they will completely sell out EVERY area of their life to Him…
Their passions
Their possessions
Their relationships
Their job
It ALL must become His–we must let our dreams die so that His dreams can live through us; after all, our dreams, if allowed to come true, usually turn into nightmares!
I believe that God has called all that He saves to NOT just sit…but to accomplish GREAT things for Him (Ephesians 2:10), to make the name of Jesus famous…to live an abundant life.
That is what we’ve been talking about in this series called “Stuck!” God did not create us to be mired in mediocrity…but to live a life that causes those who don’t know Christ to say, “I WANT WHAT THAT PERSON HAS!”
I believe if a person will give every ounce of their being to Christ–He will take them and shape them into something both beautiful and incredible. (Please see Jeremiah 18:1-6)
God’s not obsessed with your past–He knows everything that you’ve done–and He can still use you to do awesome and incredible things…look what He has done with a screw up like me! (Yes, I WILL boast in all that HE has done!)
God’s not obsessed with your present–He doesn’t care about how high you climb the ladder OR how big your bank account is…THE ONLY thing that He is obsessed with is our obedience to Him…because He knows that in our following of HIS direction that we will ultimately live the life He desires for us.
God KNOWS your future…in fact, He is holding it in His hands right now…and the one thing I am learning over and over again is that I can trust Him with EVERYTHING. He is HOLY & PERFECT…and so are His ways!
You, reading this–right now, yes you…I believe YOU have UNLIMITED POTENTIAL in Christ! I believe God IS NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET! I believe that no matter where you are in life…you can begin right there and embrace the life that Jesus desires for you.
It begins with salvation, asking Christ into your life…and it continues through intentional steps of listening for His voice and then doing exactly what He says.
We conclude this series on Sunday…I can’t wait…EVERY MESSAGE we’ve done so far has led up to this one. Hopefully you have made your “to stop doing list” and are READY for what God might want to say to you this weekend! I can’t wait!
My prayer is that you will become all that He wants you to become! It is a journey, not a destination…but there is nothing better in life than walking in the divine plan that God has laid out for us!
Running Backwards In My Underwear At 2:45 AM February 28, 2008
Ever gotten scared?
Several nights ago I woke up and needed to go to the restroom…so I rolled out of bed, walked into our master bathroom, closed the door and then cut on the light–only to see a really tall man looking right at me with his eyes wide open.
What did I do? I ran backwards, in my underwear, and was getting ready to shout for Lucretia to come get the bad guy (remember, she is a black belt) until…I realized…the man I was looking at was me.
You see, that day Lucretia had decided to hang a full length mirror on the back of our bathroom door. I vaguely remember her saying something about it that night…but my head was in a fog and I didn’t pay attention. SO…that night when I got up to use the restroom, shut the door and cut on the lights–I TOTALLY didn’t expect to see a large, hairy wookie staring back at me!
That has happened many times in my walk with God as well…He cuts on the lights and I see something that I’m not prepared to see–AND it scares me.
I’ve heard people say before, “God just wants me to be comfortable.” My response is, “God couldn’t give a RIP about your comfort–He simply wants you to be obedient…and at times that means facing things head on that scare you and completely take you out of your comfort zone.”
One of the things I’ve been begging God for lately is for Him to continually cut on the light so that I can see what He needs me to see…even if I am not expecting it…even if it scares me…even if I think there is no way I could EVER handle what is in front of me. I want God to cut on the light so I can see whatever!
This coming Sunday we are going to conclude the series, “Stuck.” I am desperately praying that God will ignite a fire in each person that attends, that He will cut on the light, that He will allow us to come face to face with His purpose for our lives…and that we will EMBRACE His dreams for our lives–even if it means facing some of the things we fear the most.
This has been a tremendous series and I feel like the Lord has taught me a lot–can’t wait to see you here!
Thoughts From C3–Day Two February 27, 2008
So we continue…
Tommy Barnett – THIS DUDE reflects the joy of the Lord, he is always smiling!!!
- When you are picking a leader to follow–look at character.
- Every successful minister has wanted to quit.
- Wanting to quit is a sign of success, successful people are the only ones who have anything to quit.
- The thing that gets me out of bed every morning is the call of God.
- Do not expose yourself to negative people.
- Great men are ordinary men that did not quit.
TD Jakes (he was AMAZING! He is seriously one of the most anointed men on the planet!)
- Where you are is NOT all that God has for you.
- He spoke from the text Luke 24:13-31 and BLEW my mind!
- You haven’t began to preach until you are controversial.
- When God shows up in new ways people do not recognize Him. In reference to the Scripture above he commented that those who knew Him most failed to recognize Him b/c He looked different than they expected.
- They didn’t recognize His voice! Lazarus did…and look what happened to him!
- The beginning of leadership is to know that you don’t know as much as you think you know.
- You can’t lead people that are not thirsty!
- God wants us to go places that scare us!
- Could it be that God is bigger than you think He is–bigger than you plans, your budget, your building projects, etc. Could it be that God has BIGGER plans in store?
- If God had not broken me I would have never learned to trust Him.
- Had He not broken me I would have not known that He was able – I would have still thought I was able.
What I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me (Part Eight) February 27, 2008
I keep saying this series is about to end…but then I keep thinking of things that I really do wish someone would have told me. So here goes..
#8 – Do Not Be Arrogant
I’ve always said that one of the most dangerous things God could give to someone is success. I’ve seriously seen people abuse God’s favor…and the reason I recognize it so well is because I used to be among that crowd.
When we first began as a church we had 15 people meeting in a living room…and on our first Sunday we had 115 people show up. (January 16, 2000) Over the next several years we began to grow pretty steadily and actually moved locations once because of God blessing us with new people.
Then…it happened! On August 11th, 2002 we had 506 people–the next week we had 970, two weeks after than we had to add a service and then two weeks after that we had 1,600 people there.
People always wanted to do “what did you do?” Uh…we still don’t know! I am being dead serious when I say we didn’t launch a new program. We didn’t do a mass mailer. We didn’t do door to door visits…it just happened.
BUT…as I look back on that time and have very fond memories of what we saw God do…how I began to react still causes me to shake until this day…
I became cocky–arrogant–prideful. I began to think that our way of doing church was the only way–and that if ANYONE was not in line with OUR vision as a church then they were wrong. (I am not talking about core values here…but rather style!)
I didn’t realize that I was where I was because of two reasons–the blessings of God and the favor of God–NEITHER of which I deserved.
It took awhile…but God kicked my butt. He allowed me to see that not everyone has to be a Fellowship, a Northpoint, a Willow Creek OR a NewSpring–the thing that mattered was people meeting Christ and growing up in Him…and as long as that was happening the “how’s” needed to be left up to God and His direction to church leaders.
I almost allowed pride AND insecurity to completely destroy God’s work…and God completely humbled me in 2005 to the point where I realize that every work He does is unique…and that HIS vision for each church will not look exactly the same…and I need to be secure enough to admit that I am not the only leader and NewSpring is not the only church that happens to be doing something right!
Church planter, pastor – PLEASE allow God to be God! If He’s blessing you–rejoice! And if He’s blessing someone else–rejoice and STOP telling all of your buddies, “Yeah, I just don’t like what’s going on over at such and such church.” If God’s in it then I am positive He doesn’t really care what you and I think.
God is SO MUCH BIGGER than our human minds can comprehend…and so is His plan for His church! It takes different types of churches to reach different types of people…and once again, as long as people are meeting Christ and being challenged to take next steps…THAT’S AWESOME!!!
My Bible Journey February 26, 2008
Continues…
- I Timothy 1:12 – WOW…this verse has always ROCKED me when I think about who I used to be and where I was when Christ found me!
- I Timothy 1:16 – The ONLY reason Paul penned this verse was because he didn’t know me before I met Christ.
- I Timothy 2:5 – My passion in life is not to save the planet OR protest certain sins OR to lift up a political party–it’s to tell people about JESUS…HE’S the ONLY WAY!
- I Timothy 4:14 – I pray that me (or ANY of us) will neglect the gifts God has given us!
- I Timothy 4:16 – Doctrine MUST be taken VERY seriously!
- I Timothy 6:6-10 – This is some of the BEST teaching on money in Scripture–it is SO TRUE!
- II Timothy 1:4-5 – How we walk with Christ WILL impact our children and our grandchildren!
- II Timothy 1:6-7 – I am PASSIONATELY PRAYING that God will do this for me…that He will continually set me on fire.
- II Timothy 2:4 – Who am I trying to please?
- II Timothy 2:15 – I WANT THIS!
- II Timothy 2:23 – This is why I always ignore anonymous e-mails and certain bloggers…I don’t have time to get into a peeing contest–the world needs to know about CHRIST!
- II Timothy 3:16 – AMEN!
- II Timothy 4:5 – People MUST be reached for Christ–we are all commanded to do the work of an evangelist.
- II Timothy 4:6-7 – I want to be able to say this right before I take my last breath…to live a life of no regrets.
That’s it for now!
Thoughts From C3–Day One February 26, 2008
Once again, thanks to all you guys who prayed for me while I was at C3 last week. I had a GREAT time. Here are some of the key thoughts I jotted down from the speakers that God used…
Ed Young
- God is preparing you for what He has prepared for you!
- You need to break out from where you are so that you can breakthrough!
- My enemies cannot betray me, only those who are close to me can!
- Betrayal is fueled by envy and jealousy
- The favor of God isn’t fair–I need to clap and cheer for others who experience the favor of God.
- When we are in a pit we either hang out with adders (snakes) or ladders (people who help us climb out.)
- You can be disloyal & slander someone through silence and facial expressions.
- We will meet our sin again.
- Whenever you are successful it will always bring out negative, critical people.
Mac Rishard
- Leaders have a tension between community and responsibility.
- Leaders usually get shaped with a hammer and heat.
- A leaders job is lonely.
Brian Houston (I met him for the first time…one of the finest human beings on the planet!)
- The capacity to empower people is the greatest gift a leader has.
- When I (the leader) get too big the one thing that suffers is the empowerment of the people.
- He said that many people say to him, “I wish I had your worship team in my church.” He always says back to them, “Could you, as a leader, handle people in your church that are more known than you!” DANG! (He didn’t say “dang”–I did!)
- You cannot lead out of your negative experiences.
- Building the church is NOT ABOUT ME!
- Honor is not a silent thing–it is a spoken thing.
NewSpringers AND Pastors–Please Read… February 25, 2008
One of the things I love about what I get to do here at NewSpring Church is when I get to connect with other pastors and share ideas. One of the guys I’ve had the opportunity to connect with is Chris down in Florida (who is coming to Unleash…only 300 spots left!)
A few weeks ago he and I were talking on the phone and he asked me how I handle invitations. I told him, “Honestly man, I listen to the Holy Spirit…and when He says do a call for salvation–I do it. Salvation is in His hands, not mine.”
(By the way–last night at 5:00 and 6:45 God totally led me to do a salvation invitation and we saw several people receive Christ in each service. It was a God thing–I hadn’t planned on it…but I’m learning more and more when God says to do something–DO IT!)
Well, last night I linked THIS POST that Chris had on his website. Seriously, STOP RIGHT NOW and read it…it won’t take long…and if you have even half a heart to see people meet Christ…it will mess you up.
Chris e-mailed me this morning and here is what he had to say–PLEASE focus on what Pete said about the reason he hadn’t received Christ until now…and by the way–this e-mail COMPLETELY messed me up…once again, there’s NOTHING like seeing people meet Christ–NOTHING!
Perry:
First of all…thank you for the link on your blog about Pete…I’m having the single highest day of hits. :-)
Secondly, I wanted to let you know that YOU played a HUGE part in Pete’s conversion. You remember the phone call we had about altar calls and invitations during the service? I took your advice…began to get a little more aggressive and frequent with them…and really trying to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Two weeks ago your words were running through my mind before the service…during the service I kept feeling the Holy Spirit leading me to speak more “confrontational” about sin. I gave a time of “invitation”…Pete accepted…it was his first Sunday at Compass Point. He told me later that many times he had felt that God was speaking to him…and that he needed to give his heart to Christ. The reason he had never done it before (in his 71 years)…is because no one had ever asked him to make that decision…or told him how to pray to do. Had you not talked with me…I probably would have never thought about doing “altar calls”…and Pete would still probably be “Hell Bound”. Thank you for your friendship…mentoring…and Godly example.
Finally, tell your staff that the impact of the ministry of Newspring reaches far beyond Anderson, South Carolina. If you don’t believe me…just ask Pete!!!
Grace and peace:
Chris Elrod
SO…who out there needs to have a conversation with someone today about Christ? Who is the “Pete” in your life? What’s holding you back? GO FOR IT! Tell them about Christ…invite them to church this Sunday…you MIGHT just be the person God wants to use to impact their lives for ETERNITY!