Big Moments

I'm sitting in a back room waiting for a wedding to start and I my mind started to wonder about the gravity of some moments. I'm fixing to help a great young couple enter a transformational covenant. A covenant ordained by God and a huge step in both of their lives. I'm being told to call my baby girl a Senior and I'm overwhelmed by the magnitude of this season in her life. Our church is in the middle of a huge step in our history! So, as I look around I'm amazed by these moments and they are huge but in these moments I am also becoming more aware at the power of God's presence and even though these moments are huge to me they are completely in God's hand! Those dealing with illness, job loss, life transitions... God is in control!!!

Identity

When people get caught doing something they're not suppose to be doing, we often hear the phrase "That's not who I really am!" When Tiger Woods got caught he told the media, "that's not who I really am!" However, I was recently reminded about the identity of our integrity. We are NOT the sum total of our claims but the sum total of our personal decisions. Many people have to wear some sort of mask at work or in public. We say what we're suppose to say or do what we're suppose to do, but who we are is not defined by that person but by the decisions made when the mask is off. Our reputations are defined by how well we wear the mask, but our integrity is defined by the decisions we make when the mask is off. I am who the collection of my decisions reveal me to be. Last week God has reminded me that, "I am not who people see I am who He sees!" Decisions made on principle and not on the possible consequences are decisions that reveal a lot about a person.
Who are you? I asked that question a lot of myself recently and I am reminded how much I rely on my mask to define me. Yet I know that God sees through that and He is not pleased with a great reputation and a weak integrity. I want to encourage you to join me in seeking His face in private, make your home a house of prayer, your thought life a sanctuary of worship, and your private actions a lifestyle of praise.

40

Well today I turn 40. I've never wanted to grow up or old but I've always wanted to make a difference. Someone told me the other day I had reached the half-time of my life and it made me stop and ask the question what have I learned and am I really making a difference. So I sat down and wrote out 40 life lessons, 40 nuggets I've learned in life. Some people ride 40 miles on the bike when they reach 40, I even know a guy who ran 40 miles on his 40th birthday... well I'm just going to give you these 40 statements of life. I hope these help!

1. My career goals at 25 we're success driven, my goals at 40 are significant driven.
2. People are more important than programs.
3. God puts difficult people on our lives to show us what we think about ourselves and to show us what we think about people who God created in His image and for His glory.
4. Wealth is defined by your relationship at home and not by the money in the bank.
5. Integrity is more important than talent.
6. Honor is a lost characteristic and needs to be revived!
7. Work ethic is essential in life.
8. Life is short and will be wasted if we don't see every decision as a step on a path.
9. A limited amount of time to communicate with someone will force you to choose between pushing your info through bad conduct or reveal your commitment to maintain character.
10. You cannot conquer habitual sins without strong accountability.
11. Confession is a sign of spiritual strength not weakness.
12. God has an option about everything.
13. Leadership is earned not given.
14. You cannot love someone the way you want to be loved you must love them the way they receive love.
15. Honor your parents the way you want to be honored by your children.
16. Prayer draws God's will into clarity.
17. God's word is practical for today's culture but must be read as our unwavering authority.
18. Children don't need more friends they need parents.
19. Equipping others is the sign of a growing leader.
20. People don't pay preachers to preach they pay us for the stuff between Sundays!!!
21. Legacy is defined by your character during the journey.
22. Our integrity is truly revealed when we are alone!
23. Time management determines a day's worth. Wasted days develop into missed opportunities and missed opportunities result in a wasted life.
24. Communication technology has robbed us of communication skills. Be where you are and embrace the value of those around you!
25. At 25 I knew it all and by 40 I'm simply holding onto the knowledge of my Savior.
26. If I prepare my children for greatness in every arena of life but fail to teach them how to have a spiritual hunger for God's glory I have failed!
27. It all belongs to the Lord... live like it!
28. God is pleased when His children enjoy their lives!
29. We will never make a difference in the world until we enjoy being saved more than the world enjoys being lost.
30. The bride of Christ must stop being angry!
31. Once you trade your old life in for a new one in Christ you've begun the only life you will be allowed to offer at the feet of Jesus.
32. Life's too short for bad theology.
33. Your family is worth fighting for!
34. Either satan lied to us and we can have it all or God is lying to us and we really can only have one master.
35. God created a perfect world.
36. Human response to God's world was sin. We finger painted on a master piece.
37. God responded in love and sent Jesus Christ to die in our place for our sins.
38. God is inviting each and every one of us into a relationship with Him.
39. Salvation is a gift. Never forget the sacrifice of God's grace is not our abandonment of sinful pleasures but Jesus' abandonment of heaven for our sake!
40. Trust Jesus with your life, not just your eternity, but your life today!

Thank you God for the wealth of my life!

Just Ask

In our service Sunday I asked everyone to write an action point after the sermon. I was blown away by the application of God's word in the lives of the people. Every Sunday we study God's word and I wonder just how much is allowed to alter decisions and lives. Sunday was encouraging because showed me the real life application of God's word. I praise God watching God's word still transform lives.
Every week we go to church and it's easy to enjoy the day and never allow the encounter with God to transform our lives. I've always believed that every time we enter into God's pesence we can not leave the same way we entered. God's word and God's presence is not a good show to experience but an eternal holy encounter that must be handled with great humility and openness to transformation as He reveals Himself to us. When we are moved to action we demonstrate His authority in our lives.

Equipping Individuals, Leading People, and Controlling the Mob

Leadership is fragile balance of equipping others to do great things and leading the people to fulfill a collective vision. I use to think leadership was all about charisma and personal investment. I had a clear cut vision and had made an investment in the lives of those around me, therefore I had earned the right to lead. Truthfully, I may have earned the right to hold the title but I had not given the people a reason to sacrifice for the vision. I had a great vision, a God honoring direction for the church but many could not see how the vision helped their personal relationships at home and others may have caught my vision but it was still MY vision. In my attempts to control the mob I had forgotten to equip individuals. My insecurities caused me to see every question as a challenge and every disagreement as a move towards dissension. I forgot that answers and involvement are essential ways to take my vision and make it their vision. Increased involvement creates increased leadership and increased leadership creates increased ownership! I have always been committed to see church as a safe place, a place to come as you are with no feelings of shame or fear. However, in my attempts to control the mob from turning God's house of prayer into Robert's rules of religious business I had forgotten how to equip individuals to buy into ownership.
Leadership has certain universal attributes school leaders, business leaders, home leaders, and spiritual leaders all have a responsibility to equip those around them. Leadership is not defined by a position or a title but by our ability to influence and equip others to catch a vision and to dream a dream.

Eternal Purpose

As a child everyday had enough hours and every school year seemed to last 3 years! Now as I approach 40 I look up from my computer most days to see half the day gone. The day seems to go 8, 11, 2, 5, 8 done! Days seem faster, years seem shorter, and I realize that dreams must move from ideas to reality or the opportunities to make a real different are going to be gone. I was in M-Class last night and we were covering the Core Competency of Eternal Purpose, which states that I believe God has an eternal purpose for my life. It reminds me that everyone of us has a limited window to make an eternal difference. God has called all Christ-followers to an eternal purpose larger than each of our lives.
However, passion is not going to be enough to drive us to know and fulfill God's eternal purpose for our lives. Passion of purpose is often interrupted by pleasure and our ability to be distracted by momentary pursuits of pleasure. We loss more opportunities to make a difference believing we have time to push purpose back for the more immediate desire of pleasure. I'm discovering we live in a time where we can give our whole life to the momentary pursuits of pleasure and one day look up and discover our opportunities are behind us. If pleasure is not your distraction then fear just might be. I'm so afraid that so many people have been burned by other parts of the bride of Christ that when you do decide to dream and pursue a part of your eternal purpose that they are waiting to derail your passion. Pride to be in the know, selfishness for it not being your idea, or flat out anger from inside the bride of Christ does more damage to derailing eternal purpose than the world could ever do.
Every Christ-follower need to dream dreams and pursue eternal purpose and the church need to stop getting in the way!!! Church leaders we must get back to equipping the saints to do the work of the church, what work, the work they were designed to do, the work that is created when their souls are freed to dream! I want every member of NRC freed to pursue what they were designed to do while it is still day!