Ladies, there are only 3 openings left for this round of leadership training.

I was looking at the parantheses in the opening of the book of Galatians this morning in the first verse.  Verse 1 says, “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)“  It got me thinking how powerful it is to be of God.  If you think about it, God planned you out before you were born (Psalm 139).  He knew you before there ever was a planet Earth.  And then He chose you to be His child.  He died for you to win you to Himself.  He called you to His mission.  And not in just some general way!  He has called you PERSONALLY to His mission.  He has a specific plan for YOU!

If you think about it, you and I can say what Paul said - We aren’t of men.  We have been called of Jesus Christ and God the Father.  Think of the power in that statement…

I have three sons and, at any time, I may give one of them authority over the others.  It works this way:  I need for them to clean their room or to wash their hands for supper or whatever.  So I tell one of them to tell their other two brothers to do what I have told them to do.  At that moment that individual boy is OF ME with MY AUTHORITY and carries with him all the weight of their father.  For the other two to disobey that boy is to disobey ME!  There is much power being in that position.

What a blessing!  That’s why we can walk like a pimp!  I’m not of me.  I’m of Jesus Christ, and God the Father.  I come with His power and His authority in the context of His mission.  I wear His name (Christ-ian) and am the apple of His eye!

How do you define yourself?  Who are you?  I was meditating on the opening of Paul’s letter to the Galatians this morning and noticed the first word “Paul.”  His salutation to the church there was an acknowledgment of who he was.  Notice he doesn’t say “Saul” because HE WAS NO LONGER SAUL.  He records his new name because he is a new man.  That was the life from which he lived.

How do you see yourself?  When you think of yourself is it from God’s perspective or from the perspective of someone who, for whatever reason, won’t let go of their old identity?  We have a new identity with new power, new peace, new grace, and a new mission.  I am no longer my own.  I am now simply an extension of God through Jesus Christ.

Maybe a touch of the “reset button” is in order.  Stop looking from your perspective and start looking down from God’s perspective.  Start today by saying:  “Christ in me, the hope of glory - Have your way!  Not I, but Christ!” - It’s who I am!!!

God bless you guys!

I thought I would make another attempt at a post.  So if this works it will be a minor miracle!  Last time I tried I wrote out a fairly lengthy blog only to lose it for no understandable reason.

I have felt sooo busy of late.  I’ve said this before but it really does feel like 3 weeks between Sundays to me.  My days seem jam-packed with so much.  Anyway…  I’m seeking the Lord’s direction as to what He is calling me to do with respect to most effectively ministering to college students.  I have spoken to many of you and it sounds like everyone is happy in Jesus with all of the changes.  However, I’m already noticing a little disconnectedness with the changes as far as my interaction with you is concerned.  Please be in prayer about how we are to connect both with one another as well as with the Body overall.

Another thing…  We just finished Phase 2 with the guys which means it is now time to start Phase 2 with the ladies.  We had waaayyyy too many ladies in Phase 1 of leadership to allow all of them in this first round of Phase 2.  Phase 2 needs to be about half as many ladies due to the level of interaction we have to have with one another.  So here’s what I’m going to do.  The first 12 ladies to email me will be in the first round of Phase 2.  Numbers 13 - on will have to wait until this first group goes through.  Another thing that interests me to find out…  Who will actually read this and tell their friends?  Who will be first???  This little note is hidden away in a blog that hasn’t been attended to in three weeks.  Will anyone actually discover it?  How long will it take them?

Tomorrow morning I am going to our Midtown campus where my friend Sam Miles is.  God is doing a great work in Midtown but the believers there need our help.  Tomorrow morning for a couple of hours, myself, along with those of you who will, are going to work together to help clean and prepare their facility for a community outreach event coming next month.  They will take whatever time we can provide them.  If it is for a half hour, hour, or a few hours, it will be much appreciated and used of the Lord to see that preparations are in place for what the Lord wants to do in October.  I pray that you will allow yourself to be inconvenienced for the Lord and His mission to see this take place.  Hope to see you there!

Last night at prayer Chris Ruzicka made a comment regarding the radical changes that were made starting last Sunday.  (Just as a reminder, Chris is the assistant building manager at the church, not to mention our new Jr. High Pastor, and so he is among the first to have to deal with complaints.)  He said that there was not even one negative comment from Sunday’s services.  This was a “Wow, God did that!” type of a comment.  When you consider the time changes, the changes in our music, the fellowship venues that have changed, etc., it is a testimony of how when God is in something, He takes care of all of the details.

Speaking of changes, not only has our college ministry, now called FOCUS, changed from strictly a college class to a college and young singles emphasis, the place and time has also changed.  We now meet in the Fellowship Hall at 9:45.  In addition, we now pray at the Point at 8:30 am on Sunday mornings, not 8:00 am.  And, by the way, what a blessing prayer was last Sunday morning.  We had the upper room nearly full.

I hope you are feeling encouraged with all that the Lord is doing in our midst.  Let’s continue to make the choice to believe His promises toward us and press forward in confident faith.  He has an agenda that He will fulfill.  It’s not our job to do the work but rather to trust in His work.  It’s not us working FOR Him but rather us working FROM Him.  That makes our job quite simple.  Just believe and obey!

     I was just thinking about an illustration about priorities my wife gave to her t-ball team many years ago… The jar represents your life and limited time for today.  The rocks are your priorities.  The sand is the “small stuff” in life that we often allow to dominate our lives.  (You only bring enough rocks and sand that will fill the jar.)  You start by putting the sand (the small stuff in our lives) in the jar and then try to fit the rocks.  It is impossible.  But then you start over by placing the rocks (the priorities of life) in the jar first.  What you find is that the sand will fit nicely and neatly around the rocks and the jar is complete.

     Each one of us needs to examine our own “jar” and determine if we are making our time count.  The Bible teaches us to “redeem the time.”  Are we allowing the smaller issues of life to prevent us from fulfilling the most important ones?  Make sure that the Rock is first and don’t allow the sand to shut God out.  As you place Him in the forefront of your day you will find the sand fitting nicely and neatly all around the Rock.  And if there is any sand that won’t fit in your jar I can assure you that you are better off without it.  And I can assure you as well that the Lord will flood your soul with joy as you declare Him worthy with your life choices. 

     God bless you as you examine what parts of your life are the rocks and what part is the sand.  Just don’t forget THE ROCK!  Love you guys and have a great day today.

I was challenged to write a journal entry about what I want my legacy to be.  When you get to the end of your life and people begin to talk about what your life was about, what do you want them to say?  What do you want the reality of your life to have been?  What do you want to be known for?  Here’s what I came up for myself…   When I get to the end I want the following 10 things to be true of my life:

1.  That I knew God and walked with God.  That I pursued God.

2.  Christ was magnified in my body…  That it wasn’t my life that was lived out but that of Christ’s.  His power and love and truth was apparent in my life.

3.  I had a genuine humility in seeking Christ’s exaltation and not my own.  I was desperate to see Christ look good.

4.  I lived a life of integrity consistent with God’s Word.  What was written of me in God’s Word was true in my life.

5.  Sincerity.

6.  I lived a passionate life.  I loved God with all that I was and my neighbor as much as myself.

7.  I was diligent.

8.  I was a student of God’s Word who “studied to show myself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

9.  I was a husband and father who loved and equipped my family.  My life provoked my sons to be men of God, Spirit-filled believers who were passionate God-chasers,  men of integrity who saw Christ magnified in and through their lives as they bore much fruit that remained.

10.  I was a saint who committed the Word of God to faithful men who were able and ready and committed and effective in discipling others to do the same.

     What would your top ten be?

“When you fight to get victory, then you have lost the battle at the very outset… What then should you do when he attacks? You should simply look up and praise the Lord. ‘Lord, I am faced with a situation that I cannot possibly meet. Thine enemy the Devil has brought it about to compass my downfall, but I praise Thee that Thy victory is an all-inclusive victory. It covers this situation, too. I praise Thee that I have already full victory in this matter.’”

This quotation intrigued me because it reveals where our trust for the victory really is. Are we looking up to Heaven for help OR are we looking down from Heaven for appropriation of His already gained victory? So much of the time we head down the road of life asking God to come along and help us when that isn’t what He is really after. He doesn’t want to “help” us. He wants to lead in this relationship. His desire is for us to count ourselves dead to self, living from Heaven the life that is only Christ’s. His desire is for His people to look and live from Him… To see from His perspective… Only then do we truly live out the resurrected life. This is deep stuff! God wants us looking down from our position in Christ, not looking up from our condition. - This is something that God must teach us as we go through trials.

People who say they have no regrets must struggle with their memory. Maybe “regrets” is too strong of a word, I don’t know. But as I look back on my saved life I have many things I would have done differently. There are a good strong handful of conversations I have had with folks over the past many years that I would like to have back. I wish I could reinstate the “automatic do-over rule” that worked so wonderfully in our back yard wiffle ball games in 4th grade. But such is not the nature of this life we live. And it amazes me as I continue to grow in the Lord just how much growing I have yet to do! At each stage of life God reveals new areas in my life that scream of sin, insecurity, and immaturity. Sometimes, when God reveals more of me to myself, I will say, “Have we not progressed past this point!?!?” The sad answer is “no.” God is still about His work in me. I have a lot of growing up to do!

“Norman Douty writes, ‘If I am to be like Him, then God in His grace must do it, and the sooner I come to recognize it the sooner I will be delivered from another form of bondage. Throw down every endeavor and say, I cannot do it, the more I try the farther I get from His likeness. What shall I do? Ah, the Holy Spirit says, You cannot do it; just withdraw; come out of it. You have been in the arena, you have been endeavoring, you are a failure, come out and sit down, and as you sit there behold Him, look at Him. Don’t try to be like Him, just look at Him. Just be occupied with Him. Forget about trying to be like Him. Instead of letting that fill your mind and heart, let Him fill it. Just behold Him, look upon Him through the Word. Come to the Word for one purpose and that is to meet the Lord. Not to get your mind crammed full of things about the sacred Word, but come to it to meet the Lord. Make it to be a medium, not of Biblical scholarship, but of fellowship with Christ. Behold the Lord.’

Thou sayest, Fit me, fashion me for Thee.

Stretch forth thine empty hands, and be thou stilll:

O restless soul, thou dost but hinder Me

By valiant purpose and by steadfast will.

Behold the summer flowers beneath the sun,

In stillness his great glory they behold;

And sweetly thus his mighty word is done.

And resting in his gladness they unfold.

So are the sweetness and joy Divine

Thine, O beloved, and the work is mine.” - Ter Steegen

The freeing part of all of this is that it isn’t on me to be transformed.  That is God’s job.  My job is to be in His Presence and behold the beauty of the Lord.