Our Promise Today

For many people their daily lives are filled with regrets. Shadows of what might have been and the ever present could have, should have, would have seem to dominate our thoughts. While we are supposed to learn from our mistakes and missed opportunities, we are by no means supposed to dwell on them so much that they become permanent fixtures in our lives and our decision making.

Every single person in the world has at some point in their life made a mistake or missed an opportunity. There you go. Now you can breathe. The pressure is off. You don't have to be perfect. We place so much effort on perfection. I remember sitting the the recording studio tracking a bass line. I found every little thing to criticize. I spent almost an hour on one track. The more I compared it to my last track, the more I wanted to redo it. Finally the engineer made me move on. The project released without a hitch.

All you need to do is read the scriptures and you will see that the imperfection of humanity is exactly what God wants to use. If we did it in our strength, we would brag about it and become arrogant. God does want us to get better and use the past to make better decisions but the greatest promise I think I have found in scripture is simply this.

What is to come is greater than what has passed. 

God has destined us for great things. Understand that your definition of great and God's definition of great might be two very different things. We often over use Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord...You know the rest but understand that God does know the plans he has for you. They are not plans to destroy you but rather to do greater things than you have done in the past.

In the spiritual sense, we are all late bloomers. No matter how many great things you have done in your life, your future is greater than your past. The lyrics of Chris Tomlin's God Of This City are very true. Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done where you are. Don't get hung up in your past. With Christ every day is a new day. We just need to recognize that and live our lives like he is directing us to live them.

Repurposed

It seems like repurposed is the new buzz word. It dominates Pinterest boards and Facebook photos. Instagram is swimming with ideas and finished works of for lack of a better word art. While some of them are remarkably clever others just make you shake your head. My personal opinion about the whole repurposing thing is not important. As I watch this craze, I get a suspicion that God actually is speaking to us more than we think he is.

Our culture and climate are breeding individuals who have massive egos but very little self-worth. How is that possible? It is the ultimate in oxymorons. I think highly of myself but don't value myself. We quest in our life to find value that is assigned by others without ever evaluating our own worth through the lens of what God sees. So, back to God speaking to us through repurposing.

When we look at process of repurposing, we see an item that is discarded or broken and think there is something else that can be made from that to extend it's life and purpose. It doesn't have to be thrown away. I truly believe that God is trying to speak to the hearts of people and remind them that even through they have been discarded by others or broken, there is value in their lives. God is the one who gives purpose. When we feel broken and discarded, he is there to scoop us up and say there is more in you.

Our church sign that I cannot see to take down read God sees more in you than you do in yourself. The world is seeing that ruined things can be restored even to greater purpose. Think about it. If you can make a functioning automobile from pallets :) the what can God do with you? The world is awakening to the deeper things. We have egos but God has purpose. When we feel that all is gone and purpose is ruined, God is saying let me repurpose you. You made a mistake and now find yourself in the middle of chaos. Let me repurpose you. You have fallen away from God completely and think he is angry with you. Let me repurpose you. He continually makes things new.

Ricardo Sanchez sings a song called Moving Forward. The tag line is that You make all things new and I will follow You forward. That is exactly what God does. He makes things new. ruined and broken are restored and revitalized. We can't understand it. We don't deserve it, but God still does it. He does it because he has a genuine love and understanding of exactly how great your purpose is.

Where Is Your Focus

I have to admit it. Somedays after a conversation I just sit and scratch my head and think what the heck are they thinking? Let me give you an example. When we read in Ephesians chapter 4:11-12 It was he who gave some to be Apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, some to be teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so the body of Christ may be built up. It seems pretty straight forward right? WRONG! This is where a frustration crops up for me. Most people stop at verse 12 and immediately begin to try and figure out which one of the 5 they are. If you read further in this chapter, you find a stern warning from Paul. Verse 13 and on we read this.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The issue we are having is this. We have prioritized these ministry areas instead of giving them equality. A word of prophecy is just as valuable as a great piece of teaching that is sound in the scripture and application. A missionary carrying the gospel to the unreached people groups of Africa is just as important as a local pastor leading a congregation to a deeper walk and outward focusing faith in Christ. An evangelist work is on the same level as all of these. Each area has it's specific purpose.

All that being said, whats your deal Dave? My deal is this.Know the who before you know the what. You must know who called you. It is a physical impossibility to be a representative of someone who you know nothing about. The sad truth is that many of our churches today have abandoned making disciples in exchange for something else. That something else could be a number of different things. Discipleship drives in the core belief and the realization of the nature of God and exactly what Christ has done for you. It cements the foundational pillars into place so the gates of hell can't prevail against it.

When a person becomes a Christian instead of next steps, we flood them with ministry areas and our opinions. We speak things out of conjecture instead of divine revelation. In short, we tell people what we think they are. Let's just back the truck up right here and unload some knowledge. God is the one who calls not man. He needed no help calling Saul a murdering zealot and changing him to Paul the great evangelist and preacher. Apollos when he went to Paul did not say brother Paul I feel like the Lord has told me to tell you that your going to be a great evangelist and many will come to know Jesus through you. Can God drop that tidbit of knowledge on someone and have them share it? Sure he can but unless he drops it, we need to just let him work it out.

In our quest to be used by God in different spiritual giftings, our zeal and lack of knowledge ourselves may be doing more harm than good. We fall prey to doctrines that are like the wind. One day we are reading one author who says everyone should be prophesying and another day we are reading an author who says we should all be doing miracles. Still another day we read an author who teaches word of faith, still another kingdom now. It is enough to make your head swim. Here is a novel idea. Lets read scripture and come to the realization we have only scratched the surface and significance of it's meaning and then, lets allow God to continue to do the calling.

If we were to spend as much time in the Word of God instead of the words of man, wouldn't we be better stewards of the scriptures in the first place? If we spent more time in prayer and seeking God's direction in our lives instead of seeking what spiritual gift I have, wouldn't we know then what gift or gifts we are actually given. Couple that with being more in tune with God than we are with being tuned into a television evangelist and you get a fulfilling spiritual life.

In my own personal life, I was told at a young age by a very well meaning woman that I was going to be a great teacher. I would have revelations on things and be able to teach them and make people see things that they hadn't before. Wait there's more. There was still another very well meaning young lady that told me I was going to be a pastor and would use simple things to bring people to Christ. (Point to her) There was another person who was telling me that I was going to be a prophet and speak the mysteries of the faith. All of this to a boy of 11 years of age. What did that do? Did it inspire me? Did it motivate me? No it drove me away from God because it overwhelmed me and I ran scared for 8 years of my life.

As I sat in a revival service as a 19 year old college student, a man who didn't call himself a prophet and who did not know me used the prophetic gift inside of him and he read my mail that evening. These words of assurance were so amazing to me. "There is a young man here tonight who is running from God. You are overwhelmed by the call that God has for you. It is not a call that is created by well meaning women and men but rather of God almighty. If you respond to this altar call tonight, God will show you what you are and tell you what you need to do to answer the call." The evangelist spent hours in prayer before that service to be used by God to share the message of hope, love, and redemption. He didn't need a title in front of his name. He simply flowed freely in the ministry areas of the church that he was told to flow in. He spoke the very words of God that wrecked me forever. I knew God was real and the call was real.

Stop pursuing an office to work in and let God place you in that office. Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher, each and everyone of them are vital to the forward advancement of the Gospel. If we allow Him to show us, we will become the mature body of him who is the head Christ Jesus.

Nothing But Noise

I challenge you before you read any further to take 3 minutes and write down every noise you hear and be very attentive to any noise that you may hear. It's ok. I'll wait...Welcome back. The first time I actually sat and did this exercise, I was surprised at just how much stuff I heard. Look at your list. How much stuff was just background noise? How much was noise that had to be noticed? It is amazing that we hear so much and process so much information with our brains. We process sound information even while we are sleeping. Thankfully, my wife has stopped processing my snoring. As you can tell from your list, our lives are noisy. We have sounds that we just ignore and other sounds that come into our ears that cannot be ignored. Many of us thrive on noise. The though of studying without music in the background makes me have a small panic attack. In 1 Kings Chapter 19 we read about Elijah and we read this about the voice of God. 

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Many of us have made it a saying in our life that we want to hear the voice of God, but I want to ask you today, if the Lord is speaking, do you actually hear him? Or, is your life to full of noise to make it out? When was the last time you actually heard his voice speak to you? 

We read numerous passages of scripture that speak to this. David had to find his secret place and even Jesus himself had to withdraw so he could get close to his father. Why do we feel like we can allow so much noise to interfere and never suffer the ill effects. The world competes with the spiritual every single day. It gets louder and louder. We as followers of Christ must set aside the noise and listen to him. 

How do we accomplish pushing past the noise? Here are a few practical steps to accomplish the task of spiritual hearing. 

1. Make quiet time with God a priority. Its easy to say but harder to do. Plan those moments where you will get alone with God. Not just a couple of seconds but make it a part of your schedule. Place it on your daily schedule and treat it as a can't miss appointment. 

2. Unplug from distractions. You've done it and so have I. You go to pray and all of a sudden you have a text from your wife and you look at your phone and lose focus. You feel the vibration of an in coming email and you read it. I challenge you to lay down your phone, tablet, watch, and other types of communication devices and focus on simply hearing him. It is so easy to justify why we cannot unplug, but justification in our flesh is tool the devil has used for generations. Take a pen and paper and journal or take an actual copy of the Bible, you know that thing that is made of leather and paper with gold leafing on the pages, and read it apart from the noise of efficiency. 

3. Create a culture in your home of the value of time with God. We may do devotions because it's what we should do, but do our children know that it is much more than obligation that compels us to know the savior more? Do they understand the holiness involved with coming into the presence of God? Are we modeling to them the importance of fellowship with God and walking with him? 

I was very surprised by the number of people recently I have spoken to who have never really felt the spirit of God speaking directly to them. They cited busy lives and crazy schedules as to why their relationship with God was superficial as best. God has a desire to know us and to continue to get to know us as we journey through our lives. 

God does not scream at us to garner attention. The number one mark of an abuser is their tone. They will yell to get their point across and God is no abuser. He is a God of compassion and mercy. Now should he choose, he can be angered, but his desire is to have fellowship and communion with us. He is no abuser. He speaks with that same still small voice and gentle whisper he always has. Will you quieten down the noise so you can hear him? 

No Luck Required

Most of us have heard people say "I was lucky" or "good luck". It is a pretty common saying. Not to long ago I was actually listening to a group of people talk about the certainty of heaven and one of them said "with God's help and a little luck we'll make it". I chuckled and got a strange look from the group of people. I looked at them and said I don't need luck to know for certain that I will be in heaven when my time here is done. Jesus Christ is a sure thing not a random series of events acted upon by an outside force.

I don't want to sound arrogant or self-righteous. I get what the guy was saying but it started a thought in my head. How many people feel like their relationship with God or it's failure hinges on one mess up or failure. To have that sort  of view is so against what we read in scripture about the character and nature of God. Look at the disciples. Peter outright denied Jesus just like he was told he was going to do. Paul was constantly in rebuke and teaching mode but was quick to speak of God's mercy.

I have always said I don't believe in luck. I think random things happen and people benefit from them or are effected negatively by them. What seems so foreign to me is that when it works for us, we call it luck. When it fails for us we call it fate or life. When does the Lord actually get credit for doing special things for his people. The question then becomes, what about those random things that just seem to happen? Every good and perfect thing comes from above. So, if you nail that last second 3 pt shot thank God for it. If you miss it just roll with it and don't blame God for your lack of aim. If you win that election thank God for it. If you lose, thank God for the opportunity that is coming because he has great things planned for you.

No offense to Saint Patrick or slighting the four leaf clover, but luck is not required to walk with certainty with Jesus Christ. It is a simple matter of your heart. If you accept his free gift to you, salvation is there. His grace and mercy are with you every step of the way. From now until eternity he is there guiding you and loving you.

Happy Saint Patricks Day

Trying To Plug In

TRYING TO PLUG IN...

Maybe I am the only one who does this, but have you ever fumbled around feeling for a plugin. You can't really see where to plug in but that sudden dimming of your iPhone makes it an urgent thing to find. So you feel around and search and finally just when you think you have it...you have to flip the cord around and do it all over again.

Many people in church or to put it a little better who are not in church but used to be are going through the same thing. No, they are not trying to plug in their phones. They are trying to plug themselves in. When you attend a church for any length of time, you are encouraged to plug in. There is one question that churches have not been so good about answering. How do you plug in? Many people feel as though they should plug in but they cannot seem to find an outlet. So, they fumble around and just when they think they are about to get it, they are met with a protocol or procedure that was never explained and they have to begin again.

Sounds frustrating doesn't it. There are some very simple steps that you can take to get people plugged in.

1. Meet new people and get to know them so you can be the catalyst. 
I know. I know. You have heard it before. It is all about relationships and getting to know people. While this is no Earth shattering step, it is the most overlooked step by the modern day church. The normal way churches view individuals are in a numerical terms only at first. The greeter at the door has been coached in small talk instead of relation building and genuine interest. Ask questions that are a bit more than what they will or might fill out on an information card.

2. Make sure you know the others in your congregation so you can make an instant connection between two individuals. 
Again we see where a culture of relationship building is vital. It is difficult at first to cultivate but if you put in the time to get to know those that you are around you can help people connect personally and then it establishes a pattern of personal relationships. What does that do for the individual who wants to plug in or even just visits your church? It allows them to instantly be connected to another person instead of trying to connect to the body as a whole.

3. Don't just assume people know how to get connected. 
Be intentional about the information. If you require a probationary period, application, screening or some other prerequisite for getting involved, make sure it is readily available for people to read and make sure you and your entire church can explain why and how it relates to your vision. Also, offer times when people can ask questions about how to get involved or what opportunities are available.

4.  Set the length of time a person is committing to. 
Many people want to commit to a church and volunteer and connect. For most people they have an idea that if they volunteer they will continue to do that until Jesus comes or they die. Make sure people have an out. Imagine the thought of being 98 years old still weeding the grounds and mowing the lawn. That may sound a little out there but churches have had a bad habit of filling spots and not filling people.

5. Create a culture of honor. 
The recognition of individuals and groups of individuals are vital to people becoming plugged in. People can see the pastor and the leadership team, but who sees grandma Edna who has baked pies for sick people. Who knows about the transportation that the Sulliban family provides to 3 kids whose parents don't even attend church. What about your nursery volunteers? Are they celebrated? Everyone deserves to be honored. You must look for ways to do it. Not just once in awhile. Perpetual honoring creates long lasting volunteers and charges the atmosphere with the electricity of appreciation. Celebrate often.

There are many different things that can help people get plugged in. These were just 5 that seemed to stand out to me. Think about how you were able to plug in to a church or a community. What led you to do it? How did you keep connected? What about the negative? Have you ever just lost interest? What led to it? We have to get people plugged in. It will change their lives.