God & M&M’s

I overheard an argument earlier this week that got me all fired up. It doesn’t matter what the argument was about. What matters is what I re-realized about my God as a result of that argument.

I really love M&M’s. I do. The best thing about M&M’s is that I like them all equally. Not like skittles. I don’t like the yellow skittles, and the greens are not my favorites either. But M&M’s – yummm! Even the ones that are deformed – or have an M on both sides, or the ones without an M at all. I LOVE THEM ALL.
We are to God as M&M’s are to me. He loves every one.

My God does not discriminate. He does not pick and choose. He wants everyone to know Him. He is a God of mercy, grace, forgiveness, love and kindness.

God chose to send Jesus as a sacrifice for the sins of the WORLD! Not the sins of a chosen few. God sent Jesus for ME!!! and for YOU!!! ANYONE that calls on the name of the LORD will be saved. (that’s scripture!)

TALK ABOUT GOOD NEWS!!! (You can now assume that the caps means that I’m shouting!)

If you understand nothing about God – understand this: He Loves You. He Chose you. He Wants you. He sent His ONLY son to save you. No matter who you are – or what you’ve done. You have the opportunity – the choice – to accept His gift of forgiveness. You have the opportunity to accept Christ’s sacrifice – and to know God. EVERYONE HAS THIS CHOICE.

Christ came for you – because He couldn’t imagine eternity without YOU!

DUDE – that IS good news! Spread it around.

GOD BIG, me small!

I read a post today by Tadd Grandstaff who is the Spiritual Development pastor at Ridge Stone Church in Georgia that made me think. I love it when things inspire me to think. How else would I ever get smarter? Here’s the snippet I most enjoyed:

“I am once again challenged to search my life, to search my heart, to dig deep inside myself to find out where my focus is. In the midst of all the success, in the midst of all the mountain top experiences, it’s easy to forget my first love. I want to renew that relationship, to fall back in love, to fall to my knees and realize in all of God’s extraordinary plans I am just a small piece. I am dime a dozen, He could easily plug someone else in my place and have the same finished product. I am never bigger than His plan. It’s amazing what God can do you when you just get silent and listen!”

God always does an excellent job of reminding me that I am never bigger than His plan and that He can accomplish it without me 100% of the time. BUT – God is an inviting God. He always gives me the opportunity to be a part of His plan. If I always remember that it is a privilege to be a part of God’s will and to serve Him in whatever He calls me to do – then I will be able to be a part of much more than I could ever experience on my own – SO MUCH MORE!

Very cool, Tadd – thanks.

Input vs. Output

I’ve discovered today that my good intentions mean nothing to God. You’ve heard the old phrase, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, well I’ve decided that is not far from the truth. Although, as a child of God, I’d have to say the road to disconnect is paved with good intentions. Or the road to discontent or distraction. I have been completely distracted over the last week, and for the life of me I can’t figure out how it happened. I’m sure I can give a big fat list of excuses, but the truth is I allowed myself to get distracted. My intentions were good. I am thinking all the time about scripture I’m memorizing or prayers I need to pray, or even how great God is. I’m getting a lot of spiritual input, but no worshipful output is happening on my part. God doesn’t want me to just learn all I can, memorize His word, listen to sermons and “be fed”. My purpose is to worship God with my life. My goal is to live my days in a way that brings glory to His name. I’m not sure I did that this week. I will make it my focus today.

More on Success

Here’s an excerpt from another daily devotion that I read –

There is a distinct difference between the believer who operates based on living in the Promised Land versus the one who operates in Egypt. In Egypt, the believer sweats and toils to generate an outcome. The final objective is foremost in their mind. Outcome is everything. In the Promised Land, we learn that obedience is the only thing that matters.
We are called to execute, and leave outcome to God. Sometimes that outcome is very positive, yielding a return. In other cases, we may not yield a corresponding return. We may even get a negative outcome. The difference is that we know that we have been faithful to what God has called us to and we yield results to God. God may call each of us to be obedient to situations that may not yield immediate, positive results. It is in these times that our faith must be obedience-based versus outcome-based. What if Jesus had considered the immediate ramifications of whether he would go to the cross? Based on the immediate outcome, the decision would have been an easy one. Who wants to die on a cross? However, for Him there was a higher purpose in that obedience. We are called to this same kind of obedience. This means putting our own flesh on the line daily, dying to our own self-will. This is what it means to be faithful. Pray that God will make you faithful today.

More cool stuff!

What is Success?

I’ve struggled with this question many times during the last couple of years. Mainly because of my part in a church plant. In the beginning of my relationship w/ North Point (soon to be Compass Church!!) I didn’t really know what a church plant was, and I most definitely didn’t know what I was getting into. I DID know that God was giving me an opportunity to get involved with what He is doing by being a part of this new venture. Throughout our church’s journey (see our story here) we’ve asked ourselves many times how we define success. I think the closest I’ve come to a definition is “Being obedient to what God has called me to do” – that’s success. I must be obedient to God and the success of my efforts is up to Him – isn’t that comforting? – God is in control of the success or failure of the mission.

I found a verse today that I had read before, but not from this perspective – “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ .” 2 Corinthians 1:21.
Here’s a quote from the bible study:
“The lesson I have learned from my failures is that I don’t have to succeed. I have to do the right thing under God’s guidance, and leave success or failure in His hands.” – isn’t that cool??
My part in God’s plan is to stand firm in Him – to be obedient, to do the right thing – He’ll take care of the rest.
I love this verse because it helps me to concrete in my mind a kingdom mindset, or a Big Picture perspective – I am not even able to stand firm in Christ apart from His guidance. I cannot even obey on my own. However, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” – with God’s guidance – I can do my part! I can stand firm! My success within this church plant is dependent not on my own talents, abilities or hard work – but on God’s abilities. My part is to be obedient and to always do the right thing according to God’s guidance – and His plan will succeed.

Proverbs 3:5-7 (New Living Translation)
5Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.

Very cool stuff indeed!

The Ideal Minister

I was reading an old post by Art Good who is the pastor of Fish Lake Assembly of God in LaPorte, Indiana. It was called The Ideal Pastor, and was talking about how society & the church generally have a very different idea of what would be the ideal pastor than God has. He talked about the story of when God chose David (through Samuel) out of all of Jesse’s sons as the one to lead Israel.
Through the prophet Samuel God said “the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).”
Though I’ve read this verse many times – I found deep encouragement in it today. God knows my heart – and it doesn’t matter if I fit the worship leader mold – it only matters what God sees.
There’s another scripture that Johnny has quoted often- “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed.” – Acts 13:36.
To serve God’s purpose in my own generation is all that I can aspire to. I can rest assured that God’s will is perfect – and that as long as I remain in Him, it will be accomplished.

Priority 1

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you” – Matthew 6:33

During lunch today I heard a sermon that was wrapped around this verse. It was AWESOME! So awesome that I’m considering buying it on CD – which I know I do way too often. But anyway – I’d like to share some of what I learned, and some of my own thoughts too:

1st – What is the Kingdom of God? My Bible defines it as “wherever God is reigning and the people experiencing God’s reign”.
2nd – What does it mean to seek the “Kingdom of God”? How do we seek it?
The pastor I heard over lunch gave 3 ways we are to seek the Kingdom of God – and I thought these were really good:
We should seek to: EXPERIENCE, EXPRESS & EXPAND the Kingdom of God.
To experience the Kingdom of God would be to be a part of it – to know Christ personally and to be a part of what He is doing in His Kingdom.
To express the Kingdom of God would be to simply make it known to others – tell others about the freedom and grace available through Christ’s sacrifice.
To expand the Kingdom of God would be to invite others to be a part of it along with you. (Make disciples – remember the Great Commission?)

Now the next part – “and His righteousness”
What is His righteousness? – Righteousness is the state of being perfect, without sin.
So – we seek to be like Christ (since there is no one but Him that is perfect).

And the last part – “and all these things will be added to you”. What things will be added??
If you read directly before this verse you’ll see that it is all about worry. We worry about so many things! The Bible mentions a few specific things that we all worry about – what to eat or drink, what to wear. Let me pose a question – what do you seek after? Money? Happiness? Family? Friends? Comfort or Security?
The Bible says that if we seek FIRST the Kingdom of God (to Experience, Express & Expand it) and His righteousness (to be like Christ) than all those other things that we seek will be added to us according to God’s perfect will.
Think about it. If we seek God’s Kingdom first we’ll certainly be secure (there is no more secure place than in the arms of the Master), and we will be part of the biggest and most powerful family there ever was or will be – God’s family. If we seek to be like Christ – we’ll find a friend (there’s no better friend than Jesus – cheesy I know, but true). Our treasure will be in Heaven (rather than treasure here on Earth where moth and rust destroy), instead of happiness we’ll find Joy – deep, abiding Joy. The Bible says that the Fruits of the Spirit are peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. These are the things we experience through seeking God’s Kingdom first.

There is so much more to all of this – I just might have to blog about it later.
Til then – let’s make His Kingdom priority 1.

Echoing Christ’s "Come"

“If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, ‘Come’, then He will continue to say, ‘Come,’ through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ’s ‘Come.’ That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus.” – Oswald Chambers

DUDE!! I’m not sure I can add anything to this statement other than to say – this is my goal: my ultimate goal as a follower of Christ.

Oswald also says: “If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experiment out of you.”

I don’t think there’s any greater goal in this life than to say that God made me a holy experiment, that He used me to touch lives. And that through my life He said to others, “Come to me”.

For Such A Time As This

I was reading in the book of Esther today, and although I’m sure I’ve read it before, one chapter really stood out to me – in fact, I was almost moved to tears.
The story is an exciting one (that I highly recommend) about a jewish girl (Esther) who is, through what would compare to a modern-day beauty pageant, placed in the position of being Queen of the Persian empire. In that position, she saves her people from being destroyed by their enemies who are led by an evil official named Haman. (So many details in this story – you need to read it if you haven’t!) Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, sent word to her about the persecution her people were facing, saying: “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?“ (4:13-14).

Esther replies, “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

Esther knew she needed to go to the King (her husband) to ask for his help, but if she went into him w/out being asked for he could (and probably would) have her killed. She did it anyway, and God gave her people great success in defeating their enemies.

WOW! One woman’s obedience began the deliverance of an entire nation. I doubt she knew that her obedience to God would play such an integral part in history. I doubt if any of us know the impact our obedience to God’s will has on His plan. I know I don’t. I read a few study guides about Esther and here’s an excerpt from one of them:

“God has a purpose for you, right now, right where you are, no matter who you are, where you live, to whom you are married, what you have experienced in the past, or what you are facing in the future. In fact He has allowed you to come to this place in your life for a definite purpose, “for such a time as this.” He has something specific for you to accomplish in your present situation, and He wants you to look for the opportunities in that present sphere of influence.

He will be honored when we claim His grace to be what He wants us to be and do what He wants us to do in our present circumstances. We must take advantage of the opportunities He has made available to us in the here and now. He may later open wider spheres of opportunity if that suits His purposes, but that is in His hands. Our responsibility is to let Him use us where we are.

God is at work in our lives just as definitely and decisively as in Esther’s. Our circumstances may not be all we would like them to be. But we can thank God for them anyway. They provide Him with the opportunity to demonstrate His sovereign love and care, and they provide us with an opportunity to glorify Him. Let us believe that He will work those circumstances together for good, then look for ways to serve Him in them.”

Really good stuff, man!

Connecting the Dots – Part 2

God’s faithfulness to me and His sacrifice for me have brought me to ask what should I do in return as an act of obedience and worship – here’s what I’ve come to:
Get CONNECTED & Get COMMITTED
As I was stewing over what it means to get connected and committed, God brought me back to a verse I’ve heard probably a thousand times in my life and perhaps never really picked it apart as I have done in the last few days: According to Jesus in Mark 12:30 it is the greatest commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your HEART, all your SOUL, all your MIND and all your STRENGTH…and love your neighbor as yourself.” So, what does that have to do w/ getting connected and committed??
Getting Connected w/ God requires your heart (it is the wellspring of life), and your soul (the innermost, eternal part of you). Getting Committed requires your Mind (Romans 12:2) and your Strength (Isaiah 7:9b – and many other verses). On Sunday I heard 3 sermons. One on overcoming the past and knowing that God has an incredible plan for you. The second on being completely committed to Christ. The 3rd about the Big and Bold Adventure God is calling us on – to make a huge impact by being bold and sharing the Good News. All made mention of the incredible life God calls us to – the “Great Adventure”. All made mention of being committed to Christ (in many different areas). And all encouraged me to get up and get moving. To get connected and get committed. There is so much more I have to share. For now, I am reminded of a song – an old song (there’s always a song!):
“Saddle up your horses, we’ve got a trail to blaze. Through the wild blue yonder of God’s amazing grace. We’ll follow our Leader unto the glorious unknown. This is life like no other…this is the Great Adventure”