Sunday Night Reflections March 7, 2010

A few thoughts about a great day at NewSpring Church…

• Had an absolute BLAST preaching on giving today…and LOVED the fact that we saw people receive Jesus after the message, that’s AWESOME!  (And never gets old!)
• We continued “Practical Atheist” today–last week we defined a “PA” as someone who says they believe in God but then live their lives as if He does not exist, and the area people struggle with this the most is in the area of money and personal finances.
• Money is the number one competitor when it comes to our hearts and our following of Jesus Christ!  If we don’t nail this issue down it will impact every area of our lives.
• I love teaching what God’s Word says about money because…if we handle money the way God’s Word says to handle it then it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to screw up financially!
• A man who claims he walks with God but has not surrendered his finances will always walk with a limp.
• The only people who really get upset when you speak on money are those who are robbing God…just like the only ones who get mad when you preach on adultery are…well…you get the picture.
• According to Jesus and the Scriptures…it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to say we are fully devoted followers of Jesus and NOT give!
• I received Christ in 1990…but robbed Him of the tithe until the fall of 1999…it was then I decided to test Him and HE DID NOT FAIL!  (See Malachi 3:6-12!)
• You CANNOT out give God–period!
• I shared the statistic that only 9% of the membership of NewSpring Church tithed last year…and 26% of the members didn’t give a dime…both of these stats are heartbreaking but needed to be shared. (Here is a link to our annual report we gave out at every campus at the end of every service.)
• I also made it clear that we will not hire someone who does not tithe…it always gets tense when I say that but JESUS said in Matthew 6:21 that if someone’s heart is there then you have their treasure…why in the world would we ever hire someone whose heart is not at the church?
• Proverbs 3:9-10 tells us to honor God with our wealth…some push back and claim they are not wealthy…so, go HERE and put in your salary and see where you rank in regards to the world and your wealth!
• America is the ONLY NATION in the world where someone can “struggle” with poverty and obesity!!!
• It’s not a sin to be blessed and have nice things…it’s a sin for nice things to have you!
• Greed is a sign of a heart that has not been regenerated!  (Ephesians 5:5)
• Personally, I refuse to stand in the shadow of a blood stained cross and offer God any less than the bare minimum of what He has commanded me to give.
• Some people should have a bumper sticker that says, “I drive my tithe!”
• It is BECAUSE OF HIS MERCY and GRACE that I even have anything to give in the first place.  (See I Chronicles 29:10-14)
• God doesn’t need our money–we need His blessings!
• We get to go to heaven because God is an extravagant giver (see II Corinthians 9:15 and John 3:16), if we are going to be followers of Him then we cannot claim that He has all of us and refuse to offer Him our best in this area of our lives.
• If God’s never asked you to give an extravagant gift then I would say you probably haven’t been listening for it!
• Jesus said we cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24) – who/what are you serving?  It can’t be both…and if it is Jesus then we must submit ourselves to the teachings of Scripture.
• It’s amazing to me how many “Christians” will receive the salvation passages but then want to complain about the giving passages.
• And, for the record, I did eat at Grits and Groceries yesterday…some of the best food I’ve ever put in my mouth…and yes, it is a legit place, I did not make it up…here is the website!

I could go on and on about this…but…the bottom line is that giving is NOT a money issue, it’s a heart issue.  When our hearts are right with God then giving isn’t a problem (this is according to the Scriptures and 20 years of ministry!)  IF you struggle with this I would challenge you to do three things.

#1 – TRUST GOD – Hebrews 11:1 and Hebrews 11:6 talk about faith and trusting God…and it takes faith to trust Him with our finances.  Many of us want Him to bless us and then we say we will follow…but He says follow first and then He will bless.  Like I said today…it’s not that I can’t afford to give…I can’t afford not to!

#2 – Get Your Financial House In Order – SERIOUSLY, we should all know how to set up a budget, how much debt we have and how long it will take for us to get out of financial bondage (see Proverbs 22:7) – we are providing a FREE SEMINAR this week at every campus…and not only that, but we will provide dinner AND childcare IF you will sign up!!!  (Here is the link)

#3 – Get Ready To Have Your Mind Blown!  God always brings a return far greater than anything we could ever imagine (Malachi 3:10-12, Proverbs 3:9-10, II Corinthians 9:6-8)…these are PROMISES from Scripture that should be obeyed, celebrated and anticipated!  I can’t WAIT to see all that He does with those who choose to take Him at His Word and follow through with obedience!

Sunday Night Reflections February 28, 2010

A few thoughts…

• Hands down this was one of the most amazing days in the history of NewSpring Church…WOW!
• We saw around 30 people surrender their lives to Christ…THAT never gets old!
• We began a series today entitled, “Practical Atheists,” which is simply someone who says they believe in God but they live their lives as if He doesn’t exist.
• BTW…I gave my GREAT friend and mentor, Craig Groeschel, the credit for that term!  (His church did a series on this same subject quite a while back and we liked the concept so much we “borrowed” the title from them.  HERE is the link if you are interested in hearing what he taught on during their series…AMAZING messages!!!)
• Another BTW…Craig wrote a book on that same subject entitled “Christian Atheist” that will be out later on in March…here’s the link if you are interested.
• The reason that people can go to church for 10, 20 even 30 years and NEVER change is because they are practical atheists…they say they believe in Jesus but have never allowed Him to impact and change the way they live.
• Today we specifically dealt with the subject of prayer and the fact that MANY Christians are more superstitious than they are believers in the supernatural!
• Our text for the day was Acts 12:1-16…where one Apostle was killed and another one was set free…sometimes God delivers us from our trials…and sometimes He allows us to walk through them…either way He is STILL God.
• We ALL have a problem with God saying “no” to our prayers because, deep down, we either think He owes us (based on some REALLY jacked up legalistic theology) OR because we are smarter than Him.
• As a Father I want GREATER things for my child than she wants for herself…and the reasons I say “no” to her are quite often beyond her comprehension…but my motives for doing so are always out of love.  If that is how I act as an imperfect Father…how great does our heavenly Father act?  (See Matthew 7:7-12)
• Sometimes God says, “Don’t pray, OBEY!”  In other words…there ARE some things in life that we do not have to pray about…where God’s Word speaks CLEARLY there is no need to pray…just a need to obey!  (For example…we don’t need to EVER pray about whether or not we need to have sex with someone we are not married to…God’s answer is always “NO!”)
• Christians use prayer as an excuse for inactivity so often!
• I asked a question today that I heard Andy Stanley ask several weeks ago, “Are you trying to pray your way out of something you have behaved your way into?”  DANG!
• For example…I told all of the men that there is no way that those who are struggling with a porn problem can pray their way out of it!  (Trust me…I tried for YEARS after meeting Christ.)  Yes, you SHOULD pray…but you’ve GOT to ask for help!!!  (ie…confess your sin – once again see James 5:16)
• I also mentioned that parents cannot just pray their kids into being followers of Jesus…we have to model it for them AND we have to be more passionate about raising disciples of Christ than we are about raising all star athletes!
• Acts 12:5 and then Acts 12:11-16 is proof that people in church can pray for things and still not believe it when God performs a miracle.
• Scripture says we should pray for each other to be healed (James 5:16)–so, today as a body of believers we asked people who needed healing, be it spiritual, physical or emotional to come forward and be prayed for…and EVERY SERVICE was incredible as people came forward to receive prayer!
• NO…it was NOT weird…we didn’t sell anointing oil and I did not offer prayer cloths, we simply did what the Bible says and asked God to heal people!
• Tonight @ the 6:00 service we brought Zac up on stage (we showed his video during the service) and prayed for God to heal him…I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house!
• Seriously, it was one of the MOST AMAZING DAYS in the history of our church…and I REALLY do believe that God used today to heal people…can’t wait to hear about all that happens through what He did today!
• Can’t wait for the rest of this series…going to be doing some things that we’ve never done before…and we are believing that God is JUST GETTING STARTED with all that He wants to do!
• Super excited about Unleash this week…AND the announcement about Thursday, September 16th…trust me, you REALLY need to save this date because the event we are going to “unleash” at Unleash is going to fill up fast!!!
• I’ve got a very busy week this week…could REALLY use your prayers as I prepare!

Good night!

Sunday Night Reflections February 21, 2010

A few thoughts on a great day at NewSpring Church…

• Saw around 35 people surrender their lives to Jesus today…THAT never gets old!
• Christianity is NOT merely a decision to be made but rather a lifestyle that is to be embraced.
• If your life is boring, predictable and disappointing…you didn’t get to that place by following Jesus!
• The problem with many people in the church is that they prayed a prayer but did not actually surrender their lives to Christ.  (And Matthew 7:21-23 has some pretty intense things to say about those kind of people.)
• We often overestimate what God wants to do in others…and underestimate what God wants to do in us!  Fact is…He has a plan!  Ephesians 2:10
• Had a blast talking about Ehud the left handed dude in Judges 3:12-30…VERY funny, challenging and disturbing story!
• Too many Christians are asking God to bless us when we should be asking Him to bother us!
• Too many of us don’t want Him to disturb us…yet He does His greatest work with those who allow Him to break their hearts with the things that break His!
• God doesn’t bother us for the sake of us having information…but rather for the purpose of transformation.  We can’t truly change the world until He changes us!
• It is AMAZING that people can attend church for years and never understand what their spiritual gift is.  (The passages I asked people to read in regards to spiritual gifts are I Corinthians 12, Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:1-16 and I Peter 4:10-11)
• I LOVE the fact that Ehud was left handed…but the tribe of Benjamin literally means, “Son of the right hand.”  In other words…Ehud DID NOT fit in!  God didn’t call us to uniformity…He called us to uniqueness!
• Too many people in the church today are seeking to please those who are not actually living for Jesus rather than the One of whom they are claiming has redeemed them!
• We never need to look for opportunities when we allow God to break our hearts and then embrace how He has gifted us…when we do so He will place large opportunities in front of us that we can’t deny!  (I reffered to Judges 3:17 here…really need to hear the sermon to get the full context.)  :-)
• God’s plan for what He wants for our lives OFTEN involves taking a risk.  He does not issue detailed emails with perfect outlines for His plans…He wants us to take steps of faith and trust Him all along the way!  (See Hebrews 11:1 and Hebrews 11:6)
• So many people raised their hands to be prayed for in regards to needing courage to take a God-led risk at the end of the service.
• My prayer for EVERYONE who attends NewSpring Church is not only for them to receive Christ…but to FULLY EMBRACE the life HE has called them to live and be willing to do WHATEVER He asks them to do!
• Next week we are beginning a brand new series entitled, “Practical Atheist”  (I totally ripped that title from Craig Groeschel!)  AND…I honestly believe that this coming Sunday will be one of “those Sundays” that we NEVER forget…we’re going to be doing something we’ve NEVER done before!  Can’t wait!
• REALLY excited about Unleash…it is two weeks from this coming Thursday and is SOLD OUT!  AND…also REALLY excited about the big announcement that day regarding September 16th…I promise you, you REALLY need to go ahead and save that date!!!
• Charisse requested me to sing, “Shout to the Lord” tonight!  Seriously!  So I did!  I LOVE the words to that song…seriously!
• My foot hurts!  :-) Which STINKS when you are trying to train for a half marathon!!!

That’s it, going to bed!

Sunday Night Reflections February 14, 2010

A few thoughts on a GREAT DAY at NewSpring Church…

• We saw dozens of people cross over from death to life today…that NEVER gets old.
• We will finish up the “Identity Theft” series next week…really looking forward to speaking again after a two week break.
• Christine Caine spoke today and continued the message she began last week…and it was amazing…some of the things that stuck out from her message are…
• “There are over 27 million slaves on the planet today…more than ever before in the history of the world.  How did this happen on the churches watch?”
• After reading Luke 10:25-37, “For years I thought I was the Samaritan, but God showed me that I was actually more like the Priest and the Levite.”  (Honestly, this one STUNG a lot…wow!)
• “I can get so busy doing ministry that I walk right by people.  I can see people as an interruption to ministry rather than the object.”
• “There is a BIG difference between compassion and emotion.  Being emotional about something will cause us to cry, but being filled with compassion will actually cause us to cross the street!”  (SNAP!)
• “One of the reasons many churches do not grow is because they are not willing to be inconvenienced!”
• “It DID cost the Samaritan to cross the street…and it will cost us our time, talent and treasure.”
• “We HAVE to be willing to be interrupted and inconvenienced.”
• “There will always be a reason why we can’t do what God is calling us to do…we need to get our ‘buts” out of the way!”
• “Normality is HIGHLY overrated.”
• “Jesus Christ did not come from heaven to earth and die on a cross to make us nice…He did so to make us DANGEROUS!”
• “We’ve made the goal of life to arrive at death safely!”
• “The BIGGEST sleeping giant on the planet is the church.”
• “I didn’t know I was using Jesus to get a lifestyle!  He called us to follow Him…no matter what.”
• I could go on and on about this message…it was awesome!  I love how she talked about how Ephesians 2:10 is true for EACH one of us!
• (BTW…if you haven’t memorized that verse then get a card, write it down and memorize it.  AND…if you have then memorize Psalm 139:13-16!)
• We’ve had LOTS of questions about what NewSpring Church is going to do in regards to rescuing girls from sex trafficking…I will put a post up tomorrow specifically dealing with that.
• SO excited about UNLEASH...it will be here two weeks from this Thursday…we ONLY have 20 tickets left!!!
• ALSO excited about a big announcement at Unleash that has to do with Thursday, September 16th!!

That’s about it for now…going to go to bed and then going to try to get up and run tomorrow.  Currently working through a foot injury…could use your prayers!

Sunday Night Reflections February 7, 2010

A few thoughts here on Super Bowl Sunday (not completely excited about either team…but PUMPED about the commercials!)

• We saw over 50 people come to Christ today…and…you guessed it, that NEVER gets old!
• We were honored to have Christine Caine with us today…and she BROUGHT IT!
• I LOVE her passion for the local church!
• LOVED having LOS lead in worship at the Anderson campus…and I think he liked it, even though people were calling him “Daruis Rucker!”  :-)
• Next week Christine will be speaking about human trafficking and what the churches responsibility is in regards to it…CAN’T WAIT!
• Some of the things she said today that really stuck out to me were…
• “We do not want our church to one day be a monument of what God used to do.”
• “Passion deficiency syndrome has hit the church.”
• “Did you see the movie, ‘The Passion of the Christ.”  Did you notice it was not called, “The Boring Religious Obligation of the Christ.’”
• “I am not a product of time, I am a product of eternity!”
• “We often times prefer to visit with God on Sunday rather than have Him invade our lives.”
• “Fishers of men is who Jesus said He would make us to be.  (Matthew 4:18)  If we are going to follow Jesus then our hearts must beat for the lost.”
• “We (the church) have a HUGE responsibility – we are here because we are personally responsible for the evangelization of the entire world before the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ.”
• “I believe the church is about to checkmate the devil!”
• “John 17:14-18, Jesus prayed that His followers would not be taken out of the world…but too many of us are trying to do just that!  IT IS VERY HARD TO CHANGE A WORLD THAT YOU ARE NOT IN!!!”
• “Christianity is not a behavioral modification program.”
• “We don’t need to FEAR the darkness but rather dominate it!”
• I could go on and on…you should listen to it on Tuesday at a web service OR download the podcast.
• REALLY looking forward to being on the West Coast tomorrow with this crew…can’t believe I get to be here!
• There are only around 100 tickets left for Unleash (we opened additional seats in a video venue, I blogged about it here.)  And folks…once they’re gone…they’re gone!  (I CAN’T WAIT!)
• This morning this thought hit me, “HE SAVED ME!!!”  And seriously…I could not get past it!  I was blind but now I see, I was lost but now I am found, I was dead and now I am alive…ALL BECAUSE OF HIM!!!  I’ve NEVER gotten past the cross…and am BLOWN AWAY because HIS GRACE REALLY IS FREAKING AMAZING!!!

I love you NewSpring Church…I am amazed that I get to do what I do…and I cannot see what happens next!

Sunday Night Reflections January 31, 2010

A few thoughts on a great day before I hit the hay!

• We saw over 40 people give their lives to Christ today…THAT never gets old!
• We talked about Isaiah 6:1-8 today, that particular passage of Scripture has always messed me up.
• The best thing God can do for a man is RUIN him…because then he will be completely surrendered and used for HIS glory!
• Ephesians 2:10 is true about YOU…He didn’t create you to be a chia pet…but an instrument used for His glory!
• God will often use a tragedy to get our attention.
• I don’t want a church with 10,000 regular attenders…I want a church with 10,000 MINISTERS of the Gospel!
• We will never do what God wants until we see who He is!
• AND…we will never discover who God is apart from reading HIS WORD.  We launched a 30 day Bible reading plan today – HERE is the link if you are interested – come on and join us as we journey through the Proverbs, John and Acts.
• COME ON…it’s just 30 days…I believe that if you will commit to this that you will hear His voice clearer during this next month than you’ve ever heard Him before.
• We will never do what God wants for us until we understand we He’s done for us!!!
• When a person understands WHO God is and WHAT God’s done…surrender is a natural result.  (See Isaiah 6:8)
• A person who is completely surrendered to God cannot sit still when He clearly says to move.
• Jesus did not promise a life that is free of pain and trouble (see John 16:33) – BUT HE did promise a life that is FULL and more amazing than we could ever imagine (see I Corinthians 2:9 and John 10:10.)
• I challenge EVERYONE to memorize Ephesians 2:10 this week…SERIOUSLY, get out a note card, write that verse on it and look at it often every day this week!
• Next week at NewSpring Church will be one of the most amazing weeks we’ve ever had, I will tell you more about it later on…but I can promise this…many of us will be MARKED by what happens on the 7th and 14th in a way we will never forget!
• Hey Anderson campus…remember, no 6:00 service next week…so SHOW UP at 4:00 and show up READY!
• Thanks to everyone who braved the “major winter storm” we had today!  :-)
• I want a cheeseburger RIGHT NOW…hoping/praying that someone MIGHT want to cruise up to Copper River tomorrow and get one!  :-)
• I am REALLY excited about speaking at this event next week. I feel like the mule that got invited to run in the Kentucky Derby…blown away that I have the privilege to serve with these guys for this occasion.
• We announced here on Thursday that we’ve opened up 500 seats for Unleash…and 250 of them are already GONE!  If you want to come you had better sign up NOW!
• Looks like I am going back to Kenya in May…SUPER excited about it…it will be a “different” trip, praying for God to do GREAT things.

That’s it…I need SLEEP!

Sunday Night Reflections…A Little Early January 24, 2010

I am not sure there is a word in the English dictionary to describe how I am feeling right now.  What an amazing day…I will try my best to hit some of the highlights.

• We saw around 15,000 people PACK OUT the BILO Center…I can honestly say I’ve never been at any type of event that had more energy/excitement!
• We saw between 350-400 people WALK FORWARD at the end of the service and publicly surrender their lives to Jesus…that NEVER gets old!
• I was caught by surprise at the beginning of the service…totally didn’t expect the way Lee set me up for the videos from other pastors, and to receive THAT type of encouragement from my church was COMPLETELY OVERWHELMING!
• As I said on stage today…there is nothing great about me, there is everything great about Jesus.  I am just a man who HE rescued by HIS mercy, and for some reason has chosen to allow me to be a part of this.
• I am not quite sure how many times I cried today…it seems like every time I would compose myself someone else would come up and hug me, and I would just lose it all over again.
• The videos of our churches history AND the life change stories were amazing!  For those who were there…I’ve read that letter I wrote to Lucretia more than once during this 10 year journey, and every time Jesus uses it to remind me WHO He is and WHY He called me.
• We’ve seen Jesus do SO MUCH during the past 10 years…but THERE’S MORE!!!  Ephesians 3:20 is going to continue to come to life right in front of our eyes.
• Greenville campus…we should meet in the BILO Center every week!  Two services!  It CAN HAPPEN!  :-)
• I don’t want to be a church that merely celebrates what God has done and in doing so loses sight of all that God wants to do in the future.
• Yes, we announced today that we will be starting a Charleston campus within the next 12-18 months.
• I pray that everyone who attended today will let the image of all of those people responding to Christ be burned into your minds…I STILL can’t get over how powerful God moved today!
• I also pray that everyone will remember that what we saw today was church…OUR CHURCH…coming together as one and taking time to celebrate and worship God.
• People asked me today, “Well, after this, what’s next?”  My reply…I have NO IDEA!  I would have NEVER guessed that when we started 10 years ago that we would EVER see ANYTHING like we saw today…God’s plans are GREATER than ours!  (See Isaiah 55:8-9)
• A VERY special shout out to our production crew…they had a few “issues” with set up yesterday (Saturday) and had several delays…their first run through was at 5:30 this morning, they literally stayed up all night to get things set up!  You guys are amazing!
• I serve Jesus with the most amazing staff and volunteers on the planet!
• REALLY excited about our new series we are beginning next Sunday called, “Identity Theft.”  SO many people are NOT becoming who God called them to be…they settle for jobs they hate and a life that they would consider dull and uneventful–which is a tragedy because Jesus called us to so much more.
• The reason is that we have allowed the enemy to steal our identity…and so next Sunday we begin the journey to discover how to get our identity in Christ back!
• AND…on February 7th and 14th we will be diving into more details as to how NewSpring Church is going to get more involved in rescuing people from human trafficking and the sex slave trade.

NewSpring Church…I love you guys!  To all who call NewSpring your home church, thank you for taking this journey with me.  I can’t believe I get to do what I do…and I really do feel like THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!