I’ve made a list that helps me when I tend to freak out…

HE IS…

• Sovereign…He reigns over everyone and everything and has never been stressed out.
• Unstoppable…and so are those who follow Him.
• Holy…perfect, which means everything He wants/desires for my life is so far greater than anything I could have thought up.
• Consistant…I don’t have to worry about Him being in a bad mood.
• GREATER than any temptation the enemy throws my way.
• Better than anything the world has to offer.
• BIGGER than any sin/failure in my life.
• Gracious in that He knows every stupid, foolish, sinful thing I’ve ever done (or will do)…and yet He loves me anyway!  (Romans 5:8 ALWAYS amazes me!)
• ALWAYS there with me…He has NEVER walked away from me.  He doesn’t always deliver me from the fire…but He has ALWAYS walked with me through it!  (See Isaiah 43:1-3)
• Faithful…if I fail to see His faithfulness in my past I will probably not recognize the fruitfulness of my future.  (Philippians 1:6)
• The ONE who pursues me…even on the days I tend to walk away from Him.
• RELENTLESS…He NEVER has given up on me!
• PASSIONATE…His passion and zeal that the Scriptures reveal cause me to be in AWE.

I could go on and on…the point being is that when stress comes it is an awesome opportunity to KNOW HIM.  SO…if you are stressed out, freaked out and feel like you are about to give out…then “check out” for 10 minutes from your busy life, sit down with a piece of paper, make a list of who the Scriptures say that HE IS…and focus on that rather than your circumstances.

Just a thought…but it sure has helped me!

Like I said earlier today…having a GREAT vision is only a fraction of accomplishing great things, we also need the discipline to make the vision become a reality…

Here’s how that breaks down practically for all of us…

We can have the VISION to lose weight and be healthy…but until we get the discipline to move our rear ends off of the couch and onto the treadmill…that vision just isn’t going to become a reality!

We have have the VISION to really know God and know His Word…but until we get the discipline to actually open His Word and read it for extended periods of time instead of channel surfing (or tweeting or facebooking)…that vision just isn’t going to become a reality.

We can have the VISION to have a really great marriage…but until we get the discipline (and wisdom) to understand that marriage is not our opportunity to be served but rather to serve – it’s not our opportunity to shape another person but rather an opportunity to be shaped by God by serving another person…then the vision of a great marriage isn’t going to become a reality.

We can have the vision (as a single dude) to want to find a wife and have a great marriage…but until we get the discipline to get out of bed before 11am, get a job, make some money and get out of debt so that your home and car are not the same thing and pursue JESUS with EVERYTHING…then the vision of finding a Proverbs 31 woman probably just isn’t going to happen.

We can have the vision to have a great ministry that accomplishes great things for God’s Kingdom…but until we get the discipline to STRIVE to hear HIS voice, to read as much as we can, to pray harder than ever before and to seek wisdom from people, even the ones we may disagree with…then our vision will always be a “prayer request” and never a reality.  (It’s amazing the number of people I meet who have been praying about doing something for five years or more…and they claim they are “waiting on God.”  Uh…God made an undeniable move 2,000 years ago with JESUS on the cross…odds are He’s actually WAITING ON YOU–STEP UP!)

Huge vision means extreme discipline!  This concept is ROCKING my world right now and directly challenging me to change/alter many of the things I am currently involved in.

Just some more thoughts to chew on…

Don’t do it!

Don’t quit!

Galatians 6:9 is true about you!!!

I don’t know about you…but I have several quotes in my office, things I look at to challenge and inspire me…here is one I thought I would share because, well, it’s Monday!

“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause. Who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” Teddy Roosevelt

WOW…I can’t believe I just typed that sentence.  It really does seem like just yesterday I was having my 10 year old birthday party at McDonalds (I had a crush on the McDonalds party girl!)  And now I’m 39…when did THAT happen?

People always ask, “what do you want for your birthday…what are you wishing for?”  So…here’s several things that I’ve written down.

#1 – I really want to know Christ, to hear His voice clearer than I’ve EVER heard it before.  To KNOW what it is like to be completely filled with and consumed with HIS HOLY SPIRIT and follow Him with reckless abandon!

#2 – That I will be the GREATEST husband on the planet, that I will pursue Lucretia for the rest of my life, that I will do all that I can to make her feel beautiful, honored and special.  That I will honor the vows I took on April 8,2000 and that I will NEVER allow the church replace her as the love of my life.

#3 – That I will be an amazing father to Charisse…that I will be the kind of dad that, one day, after she moves away and has a family of her own, that she WANTS to come back around and see me rather than doing so because I make her feel guilty if she doesn’t.  I want to lead her well…to honor what God says in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 by teaching AND modeling for her what it means to follow Jesus.

#4 – To continue to lead NewSpring Church–to break up our unplowed ground (see Hosea 10:12)–to see over 100,000 people gives their lives to Christ…to see WHAT can happen in a church WHEN people are completely sold out to Him, refuse to play it safe and do ANYTHING SHORT OF SIN to reach people for Christ.

#5 – To be a friend…one that loves, trusts, forgives and believes the best about people.

#6 – To be a great boss, a leader worth following…one that refuses to use people, manipulate by fear and/or throw his integrity away because he desires self gratification more than honoring Christ.

#7 – To continue to pour into pastors and church leaders…it KILLS me to see so many struggling and giving up on what God called them to do…and I feel God wants me to do all that I can to try and reverse that trend.

#8 – To write at least four books.

#9 – To go to Italy…seriously–Florence, Venice and Rome!!!

#10 – To own a Cadillac Escalade…I know, I know, that’s incredibly materialistic and all that jazz…but, it’s my dream car!  (Black with leather interior…just in case you were wondering!)  :-)

#11 – WHATEVER…seriously, for the rest of my life I want to be “that guy” who is willing to do whatever God calls him to do.  I believe that there’s more in store for me…that His plans are greater than mine and my best days are still ahead if I will just continue to listen to His voice, make war on sin and try to live out John 3:30 to the best of my abilities.

No matter how hard I pray, no matter how much I study, no matter how passionately I teach, no matter how many systems we put into place and no matter how hard I cry…there will always be people who choose to ignore God’s truth and walk away.

AND…that’s not necessarily always my fault.  (Or yours!)

Don’t get me wrong…I am always looking for ways to improve what we do around here.  I always want to give God my absolute best.  I want to see as many people meet Jesus and follow Him for the rest of their lives as possible.

BUT…for me (or you) to think that just become some refuse to follow Christ…or some follow Him for a while and walk away is always OUR FAULT is from the enemy.

Jesus taught in the parable of the sower that some people won’t even hear the Word…they will come to church, say something like, “maybe one day,” or even “that crap doesn’t work” and leave.

Jesus also taught that some people would receive the Word, spring up quickly…but then fade away because they had no root.  (This is the person that receives Christ, shows up at everything the church does for the next six months and then disappears and becomes impossible to contact.)

Jesus then taught that some people would receive the Word…but then allow the worries of life to choke it out of them.  They become more obsessed with money than with Jesus.

Then He taught that SOME seed falls onto good ground and produces a crop.  (AND…not every seed produces the same level of harvest…different subject for a different time.)

What I am trying to say to church leaders is this…Jesus didn’t promise ANYONE a 100% success rate.  And for us to ALWAYS take people leaving and/or falling away as something that we did wrong will eventually lead to fear, depression and an unwillingness to take steps of faith that might make others uncomfortable.

We should NOT use the fact that Jesus said some will fall away as an excuse to be lazy…but neither should we allow it to make us feel guilty when we know in our hearts that we’re doing exactly what Jesus has called us to do.

Our temptation will always be to internalize and personalize every perceived failure in this area…and we just can’t let ourselves go there.  (Pastor Steven, once again, had some great insight on this here!)

Hope that encouraged someone today.

Twenty years ago today Jesus, in His UNBELIEVABLE grace reached down from heaven and saved me!  He knew every stupid, foolish thing I had ever done…AND He knew every stupid, foolish thing I was going to do…and He saved me anyway.

I can’t believe it…I am still overwhelmed by the cross…His sacrifice for my sins…freely given…AMAZING.

To say that I ran from God for the first 18 years of my life is a bit of an understatement…I really wanted nothing to do with Him, especially after my mother died in 1982 when I was in the 6th grade…

Yet…as I look back over the most rebellious times in my life I can see He was there the entire time…calling to me, wooing me, letting me know that life didn’t have to be “that way!”

He NEVER gave up on me…He was relentless in His pursuit of me…and the ONLY reason for this is His AMAZING GRACE!  I was a sinner…I was the engineer of the train known as the “hell express,” – and JESUS changed everything.

I still remember the moment I realized I needed Him…in some ways it seems like it just happened.  I was sitting in choir practice, preparing for a mission trip when all of a sudden I knew that I had NEVER received Christ into my life…I had never fully understood that there was a seperation between me and God…and only JESUS could bridge that gap.

SO…I found one of the ministers on staff and told him I wanted to follow Jesus.  Stop and read that sentence again…I wanted to follow Jesus.  I didn’t want to pray a prayer to just get me out of hell…I didn’t want to go through a religious ceremony based on the traditions of man…I FINALLY understood that Jesus gave His life for me and I wanted to spend the rest of my time on this planet giving my life to Him.

He changed me!  I am fully convinced based on the Scriptures AND what HE has done in my life that you cannot meet Jesus and remain the same!  AND…the beauty of this is that 20 years later He is STILL changing me!

He has brought me so far…I never imagined in a million years He would bless me the way that He has…my amazing wife, our awesome little girl, the best friends I could ever ask for and the most amazing church on the planet.

And yet I know He’s not finished with me.  There is MUCH refining to do in my life…and I am so excited and overwhelmed that He, in His mercy, would be so patient with me as I continue to learn to try my best to hear His voice and do what He says.

He really is an amazing Savior!  I am in awe of the fact that HE SAVED ME!  Thank You Jesus…You were pierced for MY transgressions, crushed for my sin…and BY YOUR WOUNDS I HAVE BEEN HEALED!  AMAZING!

That verse doesn’t say, “be busy and know that I am God.”

It says to “be still!”  WHICH…if I can be completely honest, I do not like.

Being still is tough, and besides, it is SO much easier to medicate myself with all of the noise that is available to me…why would I want to “be still” when I can check twitter…or facebook…or my email…or all three at the same time.

We get so obsessed with the possibility of missing something in the world of social networking many times that we don’t even realize we’re hearing the voice of so many other people that we just might not be hearing the voice of God.

Question – when is the last time you clearly heard His voice?  (It should not take very long to answer this question!)

Because…He is always speaking…and HE wants us to know His will WAY MORE than we actually want to know it.

MAYBE the best thing to do for the next hour or so is turn off your phone, shut down your computer and just go for a walk (WITHOUT an ipod) and…just…listen!

Just a thought…wish I could say I was an expert on this…but I’m actually still learning HOW!!

• We know what Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-34 by heart!
• We tell people that God is Sovereign and that He reigns over their situation.
• We recite I Peter 5:7 to people as they are completely stressing out in front of us.

I could go on…but you get the point…we know how to confront and encourage others when THEY worry…and yet…

• We freak out about the sermon every week.
• We are scared to death that the set list is not going to come together.
• We stress out about attendance numbers.
• We worry about the offering.
• We lose our minds when we hear someone is upset.
• We allow the voice of the enemy to convince us that everything is about to fall apart.

WE DO THIS…and we’ve got to stop!  Reality is…

• Jesus loves the church way more than we do!
• He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion!  (Philippians 1:6)
• He has SO MUCH MORE in store for your church than you could imagine!  (Ephesians 3:20)
• He will reveal WHAT we need to know…WHEN we need to know it!
• He has a plan for our church…and He actually wants us to know it WAY MORE than we could imagine!
• If it is HIS WILL then it is HIS BILL…what the KING wants the KING pays for!!!

He is at work right now…doing things that we are completely unaware of but will one day BLOW our mind!

He has placed us in this time and in this place to make a difference!

My prayer to overcome worry has consistently been to ask God to enlarge my view of Him…the larger HE becomes to me the smaller my problems and circumstances are.

He reigns…what HE started He will finish…

“Do not worry…” Jesus

Recently it has been II Chronicles 2:5 -

Solomon had a vision…it was to build someone to show the world that his God was different, that He was greater and more powerful than any other “god” on the planet.

Honestly, I believe church leaders should have THAT SAME PASSION…to work as hard as we can to build a work that SCREAMS to the world that our God is different…that He is GREATER than all other “gods.”

With that in mind I am specifically praying for 15 things for the church…

#1 – That our church services would be a reflection of the fact that Jesus is alive, not dead!

#2 – That leaders would take what we do seriously and not EVER allow things to slip into cruise control.

#3 – That we will understand that the creative potential in HIS CHURCH is greater than the creative potential in the world!  Disney created a mouse…GOD created the Grand Canyon…HE HAS THE TRUMP CARD!

#4 – That we would have a heart for the same things that God has a heart for!

#5 – That we would meet people where they are and actually answer questions that rhey are asking rather than thinking they actually want to know more about where the Hittites came from!

#6 – That we would challenge people with God’s truth instead of worrying about how many people MAY get offended.

#7 – That our view of God will INCREASE…because the GREATER we see that He is the GREATER things we will attempt in His name.  (People who have small vision often have a small view of God.)

#8 – That we will STOP doing church for the already convinced and begin doing it for those who are far away from God.

#9 – That we would embrace an Acts 15:19 mindset by NOT giving people a list of rules but rather teach them how to have an active, vibrant relationship with a HOLY GOD!

#10 – That the church would actually begin to minister to “one another” rather than depending on “paid professionals” to do it all.

#11 – That our agenda would be Jesus and HIS KINGDOM and not a particular political party.

#12 – That we would model John 13:34-35 to a world that is ALWAYS changed when they see these verses in action!

#13 – That we would reject the notion that God deserves “just enough” and instead we would offer Him the very best we’ve got!

#14 – That we would STOP looking for a formula but rather seek God and HIS agenda for our church!

#15 – That we would spend LESS time declaring what we’re against and more time living out WHO we are for!

He is a GREAT GOD…far greater than ANYONE or ANYTHING on this planet.  And we as the church are called to point other people to that greatness…and I think our church services are a great place to begin displaying that truth to the world.  (Yes, it DOES go beyond the doors of the church…but it has to start somewhere!!!)