So this morning I was reading in the bible (Galatians1-2) and I came across something that threw me for a huge loop, not in a bad way but check this out 2:21 says “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if the righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” (Holman CSB) Think about that for a second if righteousness comes through the law then Christ was meaningless can you imagine? Getting hung up on the law and that it’s the only way to eternity is a devastating mistake. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
What’s Up Lately
Well my last post was about going on vacation to KC, MO. My wife and I did that and we had a blast we did lots of shopping in the plaza, crown center, zona rosa, and the legends tasted several types of beer ate tons of awesome food places like Uno’s chicago eatery, M&S Grill, 810 zone, and several others. We went to the Nelson Atkins Mueseum of Art, and just generally had an awesome time. At the Church we just finished up At the Movies it took us 3 days to clean up and I now have to do alot of painting. On the positive side of things we saw around a 1000 people more over the last month than we had in the months previous and we won the campus competion again for the 3rd year in a row, so thank you all of you that spent your nights up here with us in the beginning of July. More to come soon God has been showing me alot lately. Peace.
YEAH VACATION!!!
That’s right my wonderfully amazing wife and I will be going on a vacation for the first time in two years, and get this we are going by ourselves, no kids, no friends, no responsibility, just us and Kansas city for 5 days and 4 nights. I can’t wait we will get to rediscover ourselves, and recharge our batteries don’t get me wrong I love my kids they are amazing, we love our friends they are quality, and we love our jobs but dang a weekend in town just doesn’t let you remove yourself enough to really re-charge. So we have never been to Kansas City before so if you have any awesome places we should visit or things to do leave me a reply and let me know what we should do. We are definitely hitting up the boulevard brewery, the casinos, and the flying saucer draught emporium, but what else should we do we are there Wednesday night through Sunday afternoon.
Making Changes
Change is inevitable, no matter how hard we try change will occur. I had lunch the other day with a guy that I used to work with and it was like looking in a mirror to the past. This guy is just like I was a few years ago, the only difference is that he is asking questions that I would have never thought to ask at his time in life. You could basically sum up our hour long discussion into one word…CHANGE. Isn’t it funny how we know things change around us and in us but yet we still seem to try and pretend like we could stop the change, we feel like we can be like superman and make the earth spin backwards. The unsettling part of the whole deal is that if you refuse to change you get stuck in a rut and life and everything in it will just pass you by, not even giving you a second thought. If you are like this guy and my younger self you will eventually be forced to play catch up and it won’t be fun. Face it people change equals new opportunity for all kinds of things (spiritual growth, life experience, financial freedom) you name it change will bring you the means to do it. The key is not forgetting your roots and where you came from. Make a list of your top priorities and focus on them, don’t waste time trying to change things you have no control over, learn to accept that some things you can’t do. Stress, and worry about things you have no control over only leads to self destruction.
People vs. GOD
Here lately in the past month I have seen a couple things take place that go to show that putting stock in people and not God only leads to disappointment. The first thing that I have seen is a real good friend of mine that was a huge encouragement and counselor to me call it quits with his wife after umpteen years of marriage, this came as quite a shock for me in that I would have never seen it coming and that I used to call on this guy for advice and council during my engagement and first year of marriage. The harsh reality of it is that no matter who you think a person is if you sit back and watch you will see the true character of people revealed and honestly it may scare, shock, or even hurt you to see what people are capable of, after all they are just human. The second and probably the hardest is at the church I used to attend they are in the midst of total chaos, on the verge of separation, all the staff (with the exception of the pastor) have resigned in the last week, and part of the church is going to ask for the resignation of the pastor. Why is it so hard you ask? Well I have a lot of emotional ties to the pastor at that church, he did our wedding, marriage counseling, licensed me as a pastor, help to develop me spiritually, challenge me, and just all around be a good friend, we would meet at least every other week and we just grew to have a tight bond, now with all the mess going on it makes you wonder is the person really who you thought they were or are they something else, what’s going on? How do I stay un-biased and know that God is in control. I know that God will take care of each of these situations and the truth will reign out but it’s just hard. Has anyone else ever dealt with this stuff and how did you get through it?
Attracting the Un-Churched
I heard a statistic the other day that blew me away, only about 5% of the world’s population are considering themselves followers of Christ (I have no idea if that’s accurate). I also read on another blog this morning that around 50000 people die a day without knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior. These two stats are pretty disturbing. So I pose the question, What is the Church doing to attract the un-churched majority in our society? What are we doing to fulfill the calling that God has put on all of us in Matthew 28:19-20. One thing that we do at LifeCurch.tv that I want to share with you is a series called “At the Movies.” Every Summer our pastor Craig Groeschel picks 4 movies (pursuit of happiness, we are marshall, walk the line, ect.) from the previous year and develops a sermon from the movies. He uses clips from the movies to tell the story, preaches his message from places other than the stage, and just shakes things up a little. Another huge aspect to this series is that each campus portable or permenant decorates the lobbies of our campuses in different themes. This does a couple of different things for us, one it gets our regular attenders extremly excited about the series so they go out and invite everyone they know to church and two when those who were invited walk through the doors of a campus they don’t feel so intimidated about being in church. Check out this video that our worship pastor made of our lobby. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IIc8-PkYT4 . This years theme is Indiana Jones. I am curious what do your churches do to attract the un-churched.
One Prayer One Mission
I have got to tell you all something amazing that has happened recently. As many of you know LIfeChurch.tv along with 1500 other churches worldwide have partnered together for the last month in the One Prayer movement, and let me just say that God is doing an amazing thing (something only GOD could do). Here at the Tulsa campus we found out about an oppurtunity through one of our partners. Mother Dorothy a 73 year old woman, has been a pillar in her community and in her local church (New Life Christian Center) for years. We found out that her home was in a desperate need repair, well that’s an understatement actually. Let me describe it like this, when it rains she has to put out several buckets and cover all her furniture in plastic in just her living room in hopes that things won’t get to wet, the ceiling in several areas is caving in, the yard is out of control and that is just the beginning. Basically she was in a bad way. Our LifeGroups Missions Pastor and I got to go up and visit with Mother Dorothy and just get to know her a little and take a look at her situation. We soon realized that we needed to take some action so along with NLCC and LIfeChurch.tv we came together and made a game plan after long prayers and discussion this past weekend june 21st we put our plans into action. We started the day at 7am and along with 85 volunteers we headed to North Tulsa. It was a long day that didn’t end until 11:30pm that night but God worked through all the volunteers and we were able to accomplish some amazing things and make an impact in that community that simply shows the love of God. There was so much that happened that day it’s hard to recall, but I just wanted to say thank you to my God for allowing me and using me in such a big way to help someone.
T.A.W.G.
I know what a silly oldschool churchy term this is but you got to admit it’s alot easier than saying and typing Time Alone With God (or maybe I am just lazy:)). Well enough of that, what have I been reading lately. Several books at once (a first for me) and of course the bible, Isaiah 1:1-31 has totally rocked my world over the last few days. Read it I dare you, I will give you the shortened version but If you are ready to be slapped around by God I suggest that you read it once, twice, twentyseven times what ever it takes. Let me preface why this chapter of scripture has rocked me the way it has. Here at LifeChurch.tv we have been in a series called One Prayer and it has the overwhelming theme of unifying the church as whole. Over 1300 churches globaly are taking part in this month long series (check out my previous post on this). Anyway so I’ve been reading through this chapter in Isaiah and it basically says quit being a bunch of lazy jagbags talking out of both sides of your mouth. God is disgusted with how disobediant that we have become. He says in v 2 “I had children and raised them well, and they turned on me.” Msg. God goes on to say in v. 10 “Listen to my message, you sodom schooled leaders. Recieve God’s revelation you Gomorrah-schooled people.” To me this is where we as church need to focus on getting better. To unify as a whole is possible but we need to get our selves inline with what God wants from us and this chapter is a perfect list of where we need to start.
Stretched
So lately God has been really stretching me in some tough ways. Let me start by asking if you have ever really, really prayed to God and asked him for patience? If you have then I don’t have to say anything else, if you haven’t then I would advise you to not unless you are ready for some huge bohemeth challanges. I’ll elaborate, as many of you know I have two kiddos (both boys) and our oldest has already hit the “terrible twos,” he has and continues to try and gain independence and as children do they just ignore you. God knows me way to well and he knows that people not listening to me, especially my own kids chaps me like no other and for me this is that bohemeth challange that I was talking about. The really cool thing is that little by little I gaining control over my patience fuse and adding more and more length to it so that it takes alot more thatn it used to for me to explode like a bomb. Little by little I am becoming the man that God has choosen for me to be, and that is was it’s all about being the man God has wanted for me to be. So go ahead ask God to stretch you and teach you patience. I dare you.
Seasons
Seasons; summer, winter, fall, spring, they come and go each year like clock work, we just know that from December to March is winter April to June is spring July through September is summer and October to November is fall. It’s predictable every year the same thing to an extent, that’s kind of how our lives are; seasonal. We all go through the same seasons in our lives and I would bet (if I was a betting man) that if you looked back over the years you would see some type of pattern, it’s there just look. For some of us our seasons last longer than others but we all still experience them. Positive seasons, negative seasons, mediocre seasons, outstanding, highs and lows we all are in one. What makes the difference is how we handle those seasons, obviously the positive ones are easier than the negative ones but what’s your mindset, where’s the focus. The best way to handle these times is to put your focus on GOD during all your seasons. We have to remember that we have never “arrived” and we don’t need to do or go anymore, we are always changing but keeping your focus is what keeps your seasons aligned. Roller coasters are fun for awhile but live on one forever would just become a headache, live a life aligned with GOD and you will be steady. What do you think?
