Grrrrrrrreat…ness…

“There Grrrrrreat!” says Tony the Tiger.  Corn Flakes - the anytime food.  They are just as good at 7:00 am as 11:00 pm.  Many of us grew up with Tony  an Kellogg’s Corn Flakes for breakfast.  I love them just as much today as when I was 6 years old.What makes a person Grrrrreat? 

Greatness is something everyone wants even if they deny it through their false humility.  We might say things like “I don’t want to be recognized” or “I don’t need any thanks or appreciation” while we get mad and resentful when others receive the thanks for the things they have done.  As Christians, we think it wrong to admit the secret longing of our heart.  We want to be great.  The bible does not condemn greatness.  It defines it for us.  God desires for us to be great and He tells us how.

There is an interesting story in Mark 10:32-45.  It tells of the disciples walking along the road with Jesus.  They are discussing among themselves who was the greatest.  James and John had the idea that they were deserved the seat of greatness.  We all have ideas of greatness.  We spend alot of our life working toward some goal of greatness - the things we think we are destined to be, do and become.  We become frustrated when it’s not working out the way we think it should.  If you are spiritual you will blame the devil and begin to pray against what you think is the obstacle holding you back from some great thing you have in mind. In Verse 43 Jesus says “whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant.”  We become frustrated when we are not arriving at the perceived destination of greatness, when greatness is not a destination.  Jesus says if we want to be great we must be servants.

Our thought is that serving leads us to greatness, as if serving is the stepping stone to arrive at greater things.  This has to be the farthest from our minds.  If this is our thinking, then we may serve but never be servants.  To the true servant of Christ, his goal is to be at the disposal of his Savior.  Paul says it this way in II Corinthians 4:5 “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.”Serving is not the path to greatness, it is greatness. 

If we want to be great then we need to do what God puts before us as if it were the greatest thing we could do to serve Him and others.  If we don’t, we will not be happy serving because we will be looking for something we think is greater.  This is however of the flesh.  This is deciding for ourselves what we think is great.  We must not promote ourselves or our idea of greatness and do whatever God gives us as if it is the only and greatest work.  If you want to be grrrrreat then serve others for Jesus’ sake.  Don’t look past serving for greatness - Greatness is serving.

What opportunities have been available to you that you have been resisting because you think you are meant for more or it may be beneath you?  How can you serve others right now?  What have you been asked to do lately?  God may be speaking to you and calling you to greatness and you may have been looking right past it.  Serve, and do it as unto the Lord, not unto man.  Do it with all your heart.  Be grrrrreat in His name!

Ruuunnnnnnn…

 ”Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”   Hebrews 12:1-3

I have never been more excited about what God is doing in my life than in this moment.  But, this does not come without its challenges or opposition.  Let me offer you some encouragement from those who have gone before us.  Those who can say, “Been there, done that!”

Hebrews 11 gives us a long litany of Faith Heroes who in chapter 12 are like a great cloud of witnesses or rather the former Greats who have all won the race we are running and now are sitting in the stands rooting us on.  Paul puts our life race in a perspective that we can relate to.

I remember playing sports in school.  The coach would often encourage us by saying, “Play your game” or “Just run your race.”  When you are running your race  it can become hard not to be distracted by thoughts that go through our mind or of those around us.  Again the voices of my coaches come to mind, “Keep your eye on the ball”, “Visualize the finish line.”  Is this not what God is encouraging us to do.  Listen to the advise from the verses above:

1. There are great people rooting for you, let their words strengthen your pace.
2. Don’t focus on your weaknesses.
3. Run for the long haul.
4. Run you race.
5. Keep you eyes on Jesus.
6. Model how you run after Him.
7. Don”t be deterred by difficulty or what it looks like to others.
8. There will always be opposition.
9. Take joy in the race knowing your finish line and prize are closer with each step.
10. Don’t give up.

Let these principles propel you.  Run your race.  I have spent a lot of my life feeling like I’m running someone elses race.  This is probably because our eyes and ears can be so distracted by other runners.  Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus who waits at our finish line.  He waits to congratulate us and give us the prize.

So get going……Ruuuuunnnnnnnnn!!!!!

Reproduction…

Today is my birthday!  Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to Me…  It’s only natural for me to be thankful for reproduction on this day;  Or at least to my parents for their appreciation for reproduction.

I was watching the greatest animated movie last night. “RATATOUILLE“  This is the story about a rat who loved cooking and becomes a great chef.  The movie is much better than my description.  You have to check it out. One of the animated shorts on the DVD was about the life of a rat.  It is a fact that a rat couple can reproduce 15,000 rats in a year through it’s descendants.  Scientists call this the principle of exponentiality.  This is the potential of the exponential growth in numbers of two rats reproducing and their children and so on for a year.  No wonder people describe it as a rat infestation.  I don’t think rabbits can reproduce at this rate.

What if Christians reproduced like rats?  That many not sound appealing but imagine the exponential possibilities if each of us were to reach one person for Jesus and that person did the same over the next year.  The growth of the Kingdom of God has only one limit - US.  We must reach people and impart the excitement and exponential potential of reaching other.

Let me challenge you.  Ask the Lord for one person and begin to relate to them with the goal to share the love of Jesus.  Build relationships with non-believers.  Make the most of every opportunity you have with people.  Reproduce… after all it was His first command to Adam and Eve.  “Be fruitful and multiply…”  We were meant to reproduce after our kind - The God Kind.

Book Recommendation…

WHAT WOULD YOU DO !

500 Questions to get your teens talking.

Kevin Mahaffy Jr.

If you are a parent, Youth Pastor, Sunday School teacher, or spend time talking to teens then this book is for you.  When you are not a teenager any more, it can be hard to know how to start discussions.  This book will be an excellent tool to help in your ministry. 

You can purchase it at these online stores: (click one of the links)

xulonpress.com

Amazon.com.

target.com 

For more information about the author, check out Kevin’s MySpace. (click here)

 

Wakeup Call…

“For this reason it says, “Awake sleeper, Arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”  Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.  So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”   Ephesians 5:14-17

My Associate Pastor was sitting in my office this morning and sharing with me the above verses.  This was incredible since he had suffered a heart attack and undergone surgery 6 days ago.  God is so amazing.

Something in this verse resonated with my spirit. “Wake up, this is a wake up call!”  I know from talking with Andy this morning that this was a wake up call for him.  But what about the rest of us. We all talk about our need for and intentions to exercise and eat better.

This verse tell us to “Wake up and get up!”  May of us are spiritually asleep or rather sleep walking.  We look like we are awake but we are not conscious of our surroundings.  We are going through the motions of spirituality but not the conscious reality.  Kind of like driving a car with our eyes closed.  Like the need to be alert and drive with our eyes peeled, we need to walk as wise people, making the most of every opportunity that our day brings.

There is a warning to be wise and diligent because the days are evil.  Again, the dangers of driving in traffic with our eyes closed.  As a Christian, we could not conceivably navigate life without God Word, prayer, fellowship,  or the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  We need to be bathed in these things every day.

It also tells us that if we do not know the will of God, we will be foolish or unwise.  This is like being in a car driving with your eyes closed and having no clue why you are there, where you are going or even how to drive the car in the first place.  This will get you killed.  And believe me the streets of our world are littered with spiritual casualties - people who fell asleep at the wheel.  If by chance you survive a crash, you won’t be able to pass off any excuses like, “It’s not my fault, the drive was boring or too long.” or “It’s not my fault I have a license.” or “It’s my father’s fault, he drives like this.”  Seriously it goes more like this, “I was abused.”; “She hurt me.”; “He left me.”; “I didn’t like the way my Pastor did that.” Of course the list could go on.  Just put yours excuse in the blank, “_________________________” 

Let’s not become the next statistic.  We’ve been given the mind of Christ.  Let’s exercise the wisdom made available to us.

God is speaking to His Church to WAKE UP and GET UP!!!!!

Busting Through Kingdom Roadblocks…

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”  Revelation 12:11

As I sat in prayer and thought this morning over myself and the church,  I was drawn to this passage of scripture.  There are four things that popped out at me and stirred my spirit.  I pray that if you are reading this, you will allow the Holy Spirit to examine you as He is me.

The first is that they, the believers, “have conquered him…” that is Satan and his agenda.  The verb here means an act that was accomplished in the past and continues its affect.  (John 16:33)  We are conquerors through Jesus’ finished work on the cross.  It continues to affect our present situations and circumstances.  What a comfort in facing life when we get to see the end from the beginning.  We should be comforted and emboldened knowing that we win.  Let this strip away any fear you may have and thrust you into the kingdom plan God wants to unfold in your life.  We don’t have to resist God’s leading or hesitate when He commands us to go.  “Be strong and courageous…”

Secondly, this defeat of the enemy comes by the “blood of the Lamb…”  Faith in Jesus and the blood He spilled, through His death in our place and for our sin won us the victory.  This means Satan’s power is stripped from Him over those who believe and receive Jesus’ sacrifice as their own.  Therefore the only power the enemy has over you is that which you give Him through doubt in Jesus’ promise and provision.  Our boldness comes from this fact. “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world…”  (I John 4:4)

Thirdly, we conquer “by the word of our testimony…”  There is power in our words.  It is by the words of God that all things came into being.  God intended for His children to be the authoritative representation of Him in the earth.  Our authority is mainly carried out by our words.  Our testimony of Christ’s work in our lives is power and authority.  We must proclaim Him out loud.  God’s kingdom is established by His Word of Power.  If we become firmly convinced of the finished work of Jesus and the power of His blood, we will be bold in proclaiming Him.  Where there is a lack of proclaimed testimony, there is fear; and where there is fear, there is doubt.  If you find there is doubt in you, come to Jesus and ask Him to make the blood and finished work of the sacrifice real to you.  An evidence of this is the passion and boldness that comes and constrains our hearts to testify about Him.

Lastly, “they loved not their lives even unto death.”  This is the battle of Self-preservation or the battle for our flesh to live and rule.  We do not become resurrection people until we die to self.  We do not walk in Resurrection power until the power of self is broken.  Paul said, “For to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  These people have come to a place where the cause of Christ is more important than their own lives.  They are willing to lay down anything for the promotion of God’s agenda.

Can you imagine the power in our lives and the church if we loved Him and believed Him this much?  What would happen if we removed self from the picture?  The removal of self-preservation does away with all limitations.  Nothing is impossible to those who believe. (Mark 9:23)  Are you trying to preserve yourself in any way that limits the expression of God through you to the world?  Let us take up the cause of Christ with boldness and fearlessness, let us proclaim Him everywhere to everyone, and be willing to risk it all for His Glory!!!

To Be The Man…

“To be the man you got to beat the man.  Whoooooooo!” I don’t know if this means anything to you; however it takes me back a few years to the days of WWF and Rick Flare.  We just arrived in OBX, NC an none too soon.  My kids had had enough of each other.  Specifically, Nathan.  He was just done with his brother.  I looked back in the rear view mirror just in time to see Nathan jump on Jonathan and put him in a headlock while shouting “I said I’ve had enough.”  I have to admit that there was a part of me that was proud.  Of course, the parent in me had to say, “Cut it out!”  And…then I turned my head and laughed.This very unspiritual moment, after reflection, has sparked a thought in me.  We are in the middle of a Sermon Series called “Supernatural.”  This Series has us looking at the unseen spiritual realm and what it has to do with us.  The first week we looked at the fact that there is a Spiritual realm and there are forces at work in the heavenlies that are both working for us and those against us.  (see Ephesians 6:12)  In this battle we are not left helpless.  II Corinthians 10:4 tells us that our battle is a spiritual one and that we’ve been given spiritual weapons that are mighty.

 This brings me to my point.  The next time you are under attack, grab the devil or demons bothering you by the neck and say, “I said I’ve had enough!”  Or in the words of Rick Flare, “To be the Man, you got to beat the man.”  We are called to be the representation of Christ’s likeness and authority in the earth.  We are to be like Jesus and beat the enemy.  Truthfully, to be like Jesus is to beat the forces of wickedness that oppose us.  Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.  (I John 3:8)  And, He  did.  Therefore, throught the power of Jesus we are lead triumphant. (II Corinthians 2:14)  So kick butt in Jesus name!

Teach A Man To Fish…

We’ve probably all heard the age old adage, “Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.”  Like me, you’d say, ‘That’s common sense.”  If this is common sense, then why is it so hard when it comes to our spiritual lives.

In Matthew 4:19,  Jesus said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.”  He was telling them, “Come on - let me show you how to fish.”  Isn’t this what Pastors are doing every Sunday as they stand before the groups of people who have gathered to hear the message of Jesus.  It’s our desire not to just give them a fish, but to teach them to fish.  This has to be our passion.  This is what spiritual maturity is all about.  What a joy to take someone from needing to be fed (infant) to feeding others (adult).  This is the pleasure of parents watching their children grow into adulthood.

This also brings to bear the responsibility each of us has to not remain as infants, immature in our faith.  We have to get beyond the feed me, or I’ll pitch a fit; hold me, burp me, let me cry and clean up my mess stage of life.  There is nothing more frustrating than a 50 year old man in diapers sitting in a high chair crying and demanding to be fed and throwing his plate in the floor because he doesn’t want to eat peas and carrots.  We must not be that man.  Hebrews 6:1 says, “Therefore leaving the elementary teachings about Christ, let us press on to maturity…”  Paul was saying that there is a time to grow up.  And again in Ephesians 4:15, “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,…”

Don’t become content being where you are spiritually.  This will quickly become complacency.  Complacency brings discontent and discontent complaining and complaining… well you can see where this leads.  Pursue the depths of God with all diligence.  Take advantage of every opportunity He gives you to grow.  Allow what you are receiving spiritually to fuel your passion to feed others and in turn also teach them to fish.  Oh, and what a joy that is to your parents or pastors.