Not So Deep Thoughts

I feel like I am in a season of learning.  I always work hard to try to learn, but right now, things seem like they are in turbo.

One of the things God is teaching me is that I need to learn to listen for His voice.  I’m learning to say that I love God is to also say that I love God’s voice.

In fact, I’m trying to become a better listener.  Sounds easy enough, right?

I’m not a Kobe fan.  Not even a little bit.  However, I saw a story at the gym a couple of weeks ago that really caught my attention.

Kobe was looking to improve his post game.  In order to do so, he called Hakeem Olajuwon and asked him to work out with him so that Kobe could learn from Hakeem.  Hakeem is regarded as one of the top post players in history, if not the best ever.

One thing I respect about Kobe is this.  He understands that leaders are learners.  He is already considered one of the top 3 players in the league.  He could be comfortable in that.  Instead, he is doing all he can to learn from the best.  He knows that to be a great leader, you have to continuously be learning.

I’ve got tons of respect for that!

Recently, our less than 2 year old church gave $80,000 in our Gift Offering.  Especially in a down economy, this was EXTREMELY generous!  The money will be used to bless a few local organizations and also allow Freedom to pounce on any opportunity that God may send our way.  It also allowed us to send money to help with the relief efforts in Haiti.  The people were willing to give their money so that people far from God can experience life in Christ.

I ran across this formula the other day and it really seemed to sum up how God’s economy works:

Subtract what you are spending on yourself.

Add it to what you are investing into people far from God.

God will do the multiplication!

Way to go Freedom Church!  God is going to blow our minds in 2010!!

Hopefully if you attend Freedom, you recognize the value of praying for your church.  It’s an important part of the partnership process.

Here’s some things that can help guide you, as you pray (via Bill Purvis) :

1.   Pray for a holy, healthy church.

2.  Pray for people that are far from God to experience life in Christ.

3.  Pray for God’s anointing on your church.

4.  Pray that the people of the church will become fully-devoted followers of Christ.

5.  Pray for the leadership of the church.

Lots of times, people minimize prayer (All I can do it pray.)  Praying is the greatest work you can do for Freedom!

Since I have the honor of spending a good bit of time with Pastor J.R., I recognize the need to pray for him now like never before.  Nobody, including me, can understand the weight a Lead Pastor is under.  He  cares tremendously about what is going on in the lives of each person sitting in those seats on Sunday.  He loses sleep over the fact that there are people far from God all around us.  He is in a very unique position and it is imperative that we are praying for him each day.

Here are a few ways that you can pray for him (via Bill Purvis):

1.  Pray for him physically.  Pastors are under tremendous stress every day.

2.  Pray for his morality.  Because he is the leader, there is a huge bulls-eye on his back.  Pray that he would stay close to Jesus and clean morally.

3.  Pray for him mentally.  It is important that he is focused and filled with wisdom and creativity.

4.  Pray for him spiritually.  Pray for him to have great faith and leadership ability.

Every month, 1,500 Pastors leave the ministry due to moral failure, burnout, or trouble in the church.  Help me to pray that our Pastor doesn’t become another statistic.

This week, I am going to be posting some thoughts and direct quotes from Bill Purvis’ book Pray for Your Pastor.  It is a great reminder to take some time out of your day to remember to pray for your Pastor.

Today, I want to discuss why we should pray.  Here’s a few thoughts:

1.  Prayer changes your focus.  It aligns our heart and mind with God’s.

2.  Prayer transfers your burden. It helps to lift the weight off our shoulders.

3.  Prayer prepares you for major decisions.  You’ll feel more prepared to make the call.

4.  Prayer prepares you for temptation.  Satan wants to destroy you.  Bottom line.  Prayer helps you to be stronger!

God desires to hear from you.  Stop what you are doing.  Take some time to pray.  Do it now!

We live in a world where there is this myth that everyone must agree with everyone for things to be accomplished.  However, as I read Acts 15 the other day, I was reminded a disagreement that occurs at the end of the chapter.  It must have been pretty heated because it led to Barnabas and Paul going their separate ways.

I can imagine the people of their day ranting about how one or the other wasn’t going to make it or was doing the wrong thing.  However, if you continue to read through the New Testament, you see that God used both groups in an incredible way.  They were far more effective and had more of an impact apart from each other!  Both ministries were more far reaching than they would have been otherwise.

Rather than spending all your time trying to convince someone to agree with you, both sides might be better served by celebrating the differences and moving on.  Who knows?  Maybe God wants to use both sides to accomplish great things for His kingdom!

The following is an excerpt from Extraordinary by John Bevere.  Read this to set the stage for what you are about to read.

We’re no longer living the status quo.  We are influencers now, not followers.  If you’re a teacher, you should come up with the most creative and innovative ways of communicating knowledge and wisdom.  Other teachers should be amazed by your ingenuity.  If you’re a designer, your creative ideas should be highly advanced, cutting edge, and fresh.  You should be the leader in your field.

As a businessman or woman, you should come up with inventive ideas and keen marketing strategies that are ahead of the curve.  You should see what’s profitable and what’s not.  You’ll know when to buy and when to sell.  Other businesspeople will scratch their heads trying to figure out why you’re so successful.If you are a stay-at-home mom, you should be the most imaginative, most compassionate, and wisest in your neighborhood.  Others who haven’t been saved by grace will approach you for advice.

As rulers in life, we in essence meet people’s needs by the exceedingly great power that’s in us.  This is the victory that overcomes the world, which causes us to rule in life – our faith!

We  just concluded a series dealing with Forgiveness.  One of the verses that Pastor J.R. talked about was this one:

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. (NLT)

This is one of the most freeing verses in the Bible to me.  Here’s a few thoughts about it-

a.  Notice the verse doesn’t say ‘most wrongs’.  Doesn’t matter what you’ve done, Jesus can and will forgive you.  I know you are thinking, ‘yeah but you don’t know about this sin in my life.’  Yes, Jesus will even forgive that one!

b.  This verse reminds us that Jesus is faithful.  We can be assured that He will forgive us.  He will always keep His promise.  In a world where we’ve all been let down millions of times, that is saying something!

c.  Knowing that Jesus has forgive us, we must forgive ourselves.  This is often harder for me than asking for forgiveness.  Many times, Jesus has already forgiven me but I refuse to move past it.  Move on!  You are forgiven!  Jesus doesn’t desire for you to live in that bondage!!

Stop what you are doing.  Ask for forgiveness.  Receive it.  Begin being the person Jesus created you to be!!

This morning, a few of our Guest Services team presented some potential upgrades to our staff.  We are looking to ramp up what we are doing on our Parking, Greeting, Usher, First Time Guest, and Hospitality teams.

Here is the question that I am asking, ‘How can we move from just being friendly to honoring our guests?‘  We get comments all the time about how friendly our people are.  It isn’t a broken system by any means.  However, what can we do to take the extra step to make it easier for people far from God to experience life in Christ?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can honor our guests.  Ready…. GO!