Thoughts on Christ and His Word

"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none." Ezekiel 22:30 Will I be the man God is looking for? Will you be the woman God is looking for? God is looking for men and women who will build the wall of his kingdom. He is looking for men and women who will stand between Him and the unsaved people of this world. From this position the man or woman would be able to pray for the people - to ask God for mercy for the people, as Moses asked God to forgive the Israelites when they sinned against God. From the position in the gap the man and woman would also be able to implore the people to turn to God and His Son for the salvation of their souls, as Peter did at Pentecost . If we decide to build the walls of our kingdom, instead of God's; if we decide to sit this one out, instead of stand in the gap, we will loose the privilege working for God's glory, bein

Rick Warren says that the #1 reason people leave a church is unresolved personal conflicts. Regrettably , this seems to be true. This is how he puts it in a message to his church leaders: "The church is a family. Do families have conflict? Disagreements? Sometimes I violently disagree with my wife. And she violently disagrees with me. But my commitment to her is no less than 100% and vice versa . I can think of some people who’ ve been around here for nearly eleven years and they’re have been times where we’ ve disagreed over different things. But I’m committed to them and they’re committed to me and we’re still here together. I think that people need to learn how to handle conflict without getting a divorce. Too many people want to divorce their church. It’s the easier thing to do. But they go to another church and find out it’s not perfect either. You’re never going to find a perfect church. If you do, don’t join it. Then it won’t be perfect any more." Pau

Joni Eareckson Tada became a quadriplegic after a diving accident in 1967. She was 17 years old at the time and faced a life stuck in a wheelchair unable to use her arms and legs for the rest of her life. One might excuse her if she became frustrated and depressed at life. But she didn ’t just curl up in a corner in useless existence. She drew strength from Christ and began an organization called Joni and Friends ( joniandfriends .org ) to extend the love of Christ to people with disabilities. Her organization has pushed the kingdom of God forward for over 30 years in the United States and around the world. In a conference where Joni was speaking, she was asked how she kept going, serving in spite of her obvious physical limitations. Her answer puts things in perspective: “This is the only time in history when I get to fight for God. This is the only part of my eternal story when I am actually in the battle. Once I die, I’ll be in celebration mode in a glorified body in whole differe

Last Tuesday I was sharing with my men's Bible study class that "Readers are Leaders". This is what my youth group leader told me 30 years ago. And it’s true. Two days after I repeated these words to my class I was reading the book Axiom by Bill Hybels. In it he has a chapter titled “Read All You Can”. Here are some excerpts from that chapter: “Leaders have a responsibility before God to constantly get better, and one of the most reliable ways to do so is to read. Great leaders read frequently. They read voraciously. They read classics and new releases. They soak up lessons from the military, from academia, from politics, from nongovernmental organizations, and from church leaders who are leading well. They refuse to let themselves off the hook in this regard, because they know that all great leaders read.” “I have little patience with leaders who get themselves into leadership binds and then confess that they haven’t read a leadership book in years. If you’re a serious-

Sacrifice is the down payment for leadership. If you want to influence people and have them follow you with their hearts, they must see you lay down your life for them and the team. In his book “Spiritual Leadership”, J. Oswald Sanders writes “To aspire to leadership in God’s kingdom requires us to be willing to pay a price higher than others are willing to pay.” This is called sacrifice. Jesus said that in order to be his disciple one must sacrifice comfort, time, and family relationships (Luke 9:57-62). And leaders should be disciples that live at a higher standard. So what should our sacrifice look like? Sanders continues “The world is run by tired men…Even Jesus grew weary in ministry and had to rest (John 4:6)…If a Christian is not willing to rise early and work late, to expend greater effort in diligent study and faithful work, that person will not change a generation. Fatigue is the price of leadership. Mediocrity is the result of never getting tired.” Some people want to

In his book Axiom , Bill Hybels describes the difference between a leader who is a hireling (a simple employee) of a vision and the one who owns the vision. The hireling begins to choose a path self-service. The vision becomes more about him – his career, his fame, his job security and his success. But the leader who owns a God-given vision is willing to pay any price to achieve it. Followers follow him to the extent that they feel he owns it – that his heart is in it and is willing to sacrifice for it. Hybels writes that followers “will only sacrifice for the vision if you will. They will only take a bullet for the cause if they believe down to their toes that you would do the same.” He then expresses what should be every leader’s prayer that believes God has given him a vision: “God...right here and right now, I tell you all over again that I will pay any price to achieve this vision so that someday, when I get to the finish line, I’ll be able to say with Paul that I fought the goo

Have you heard that the human nose and ears never stop growing? Well good leaders never stop growing either. According to Bill Robinson, president of Whitworth University, good leaders “…develop the gifts God gave them. They hone and improve those gifts. They never stop learning how to use their gifts more effectively. And they change. They get better. And they get nervous at the first sign of stagnation.” Are you developing the gifts Godhas given you? Are you reading, going to conferences, or listening to seminars about areas in of your life that grow you up and affect your ministry success? If not, you may be stagnant and wasting the gifts God has entrusted to you. Paul wrote to Timothy “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.” 2 Timothy 4:13 The scrolls and parchments were books – possibly Old Testament books, new Scriptures from other apostles, or other books that inspired him. The point is he wanted to

Do any you lack passion? At times I do. Life has a way of getting us down. But God gives us Hope and Passion. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7 Hope. That is what Isaiah’s prophecy is all about. Hope of God’s Son taking over as Ruler of the World. It will bring greater joy to the world than when Obama gave his victory speech in Chicago. Jesus Christ will rule as a “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Justice and righteousness will run through the streets forever. What will ensure that this will happen? What will make this H

I once had a friend named Ruben. While in school in an isolated stairwell, some guy threatened to beat up Ruben. I stood up for my friend and told the guy that if he touched my friend I would beat him up. I don't know where that bravery came from since I was not very tough nor brave. I guess I had a scary face that day. The guy left and my friend and I walked away with unblemished faces. I don't feel I was a hero, but my friend was grateful for my help. Moses stood up for some people once also. In fact he stood up for about one million people and the one he stood up against was God. So he [God] declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people. He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them. Psalms 106:23 NLT . Moses could have simply let God destroy the people. The people mistreated Moses - constantly grumbling against him, slandering him, speaking of replacing him as their leader, and once even speaking of stoning h

We all experience stress - too much to do in too little time and usually without the proper resources. BURNOUT occurs when stress accumulates in us over time. Burnout affects our motivation and desire to keep striving towards the goals and ideals we once held onto so closely. Many times burnout leads to depression and a sense of hopelessness and helplessness . Christian leader Mike Foster says "My biggest indicator of burnout is how I treat people...What's most unfortunate, and probably not a unique situation, is that I take out my stress on the people I love the most...my wife and kids..." Many times we burnout because we are on the road to success. We are pursuing our dreams so fast and furiously that we don't see the "self-destruction" warning light blinking crazily on our dashboard. Pastor Wayne Cordeiro said of his burnout experience "Unknowingly, the road to success and the road to a nervous breakdown became the same road." Burnout i

Problems and leadership go together. Read what happened to Paul. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 One of God’s greatest goals in working with his leaders is to keep them humble and dependent on Him. So in order to develop this dependence on God, He sends trials into their lives. Paul says he suffered “hardships” and was under “great pressure” which led him to

Recently a teenager wanted to know how she could stay “on fire” for God. “Good question”, I thought. Over my 30 years of being a Christian, I have seen many young people (and old as well) come to Christ, only to be sucked into the world shortly thereafter. I think it is very hard to live for Christ as a young person and doubly so in today’s modern world with so much peer pressure to do wrong and the easy availability of evil media. So after thinking of HOW TO STAY “ON-FIRE” FOR GOD , I suggest the following practices: 1. Prayer As a young man who was just appointed king, Solomon prayed: "Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.

By a show of hands, how many of you want God to pour out his heart to you? Who would like for God to make his thoughts known to you? I hope all of us would raise our hands. If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. Proverbs 1:23 To respond correctly means to humbly submit to God's commands and obey what He says. Only through humble obedience do we begin to gain insight into who God is - His character and attributes. But to stubbornly reject God's will for our lives will lead to disastrous consequences. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, 30 since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, 31 they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. 32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them Proverbs 1:29-32 God's rebuke can come through: God's Word (2 Timothy 3:16) Other People (

In trying times we all believe things will get better. A brighter day is coming. Our hope is found in believing that better things will come tomorrow. But what do we do when we realize that there is no better tomorrow coming. When we are on the threshold of death and we know that our best days are behind us. Job found himself in this situation. Because of his physical illness he thought that there was no better days coming - the sun was setting on his life. Yet he dug deep into his soul and found HOPE. I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed,yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! Job 19:25-27 . Job found faith, hope, and comfort in his final destiny. He no longer expected a better tomorrow, at least not on earth. But his heart longed to see his Redeemer, in his new heavenly body, with his new eyes, in a new place - a

How wonderful it is when we can depend on people to do the right thing. When the children do their chores, when employees complete their tasks, when Christians are at their place of ministry on time and ready to serve. Some people say dogs are dependable. They greet you with a wagging tale and a licking tongue no matter what time you get home. Seriously, dependability is one of the critical factors that make people successful in life. In his book Run with the Bulls , Tim Irwin describes dependable people as individuals who... ...plan, organize, and finish their projects. They follow through---you can rely on them to get things done. They are purposeful, determined, and have very high standards. This kind of faithful and dependable ethic elicits trust from others, especially managers and supervisors. Irwin continues to state: A manager finds it incredibly refreshing when an employee discovers a problem and then exercises initiative to address that problem in a capable way before the m

Job suffered a lot. He lost his kids, his servants, his livestock, and finally his health. When we are suffering, we are tempted to blame God – “Why has God let this happen to me?” At that point we have two options: TRUST in God’s love, strength, and His good purpose for our lives, or FIGHT Him by denying Him or cursing Him. David sung about God’s love and strength in Psalms 62: One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, 12 and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done. Psalms 62:11-12 Job desired to avoid the “denying or cursing God” option but he knew he was in a very weakened condition. He said: "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, 9 that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off! 10 Then I would still have this consolation — my joy in unrelenting pain — that I had not denied the words of the Holy One. Job 6:8-10 Job preferre

The following is a reprint of Pastor Fancis Chan's article found in Catalystspace.  I hope they don't mind I borrowed it, but it was too good not to have in my blog. ARE YOU A GOOD CHRIST? By Francis Chan I think it's time we stop asking ourselves the question: "Am I a good Christian?" We live in a time when the term "Christian" has been so diluted that millions of immoral but nice people genuinely consider themselves "good Christians." We have reduced the idea of a good Christian to someone who believes in Jesus, loves his or her family, and attends church regularly. Others will label you a good Christian even though your life has no semblance to the way Christ spent His days on earth. Perhaps we should start asking the question: "Am I a good  Christ ?" In other words, do I look anything like Jesus? This question never even entered my mind until a friend of mine made a passing comment to me one day. Dan is a long time friend of mine.

Anyone feeling courageous lately? We all want to be courageous, but many times we feel like the lion in the Wizard of Oz - we are big, hairy, and supposed to be tough, but one slap from a little girl leaves us crying in cowardice. Here are some thoughts from Tim Irwin's book "Run with the Bulls": Courageous acts are not performed by people with a personality trait called "courage". Courageous acts are performed by normal people who passionately believe in what they are trying to do --- the urge to act on their conviction becomes compelling. Everyone who has ever performed a courageous act was afraid. Their conviction about what they believed simply outmatched their fear. A courageous person does not talk "about" an idea, but rather acts on what he or she really believes. It is totally normal to struggle with how to move forward in our lives. Often the forces in opposition seem insurmountable...Where do we get the discipline to persist and the cour

During the cold war Romania was a communist country. There existed an underground church that actively shared Christ with others at the risk of losing their freedoms or their lives. One young Christian girl from the underground church used to teach children about Christ. The communist discovered her activities and decided to punish her. But discovering she would soon be married they decided to wait and arrest her at her wedding. She was dressed in her wedding gown and ready to make her marriage vows when the secret police burst the doors open to arrest her and haul her away. "When the bride saw the secret police, she held out her arms toward them to be handcuffed. They roughly put the manacles on her wrists. She looked toward her beloved, then kissed the chains and said, 'I thank my heavenly Bridegroom for this jewel He has presented to me on my marriage day. I thank Him that I am worthy to suffer for Him.' she was dragged off, with weeping Christians and a weepin

Sabina Wurmbrand was the wife of a pastor (Richard) in Romania during World War II. They suffered much persecution under the Nazi's. But what came after under the Russians was worse. The communist convened all pastors and religious leaders to the Romanian Parliament. Four thousand pastors, priests, and leaders from all types of denominations showed up. The group chose Joseph Stalin as the honorary president of this convention and proceeded to proclaim that communism and Christianity could coexist and were basically the same. One by one these leaders pledged that their church would be loyal to communism. Sabina couldn't believe what she was hearing and seeing. She turns to her husband and says, "Richard, stand up and wash away this shame fom the face of Christ! They are spitting in his face." Richard replies, "If I do so, you lose your husband." To which she responds, "I don't wish to have a coward as a husband." What a woman! Spurring on her h

Who do you want on your team? Lethargic people who don't care about anything and seem to move without purpose in life? Nancy Ortberg in a book on leadership writes : "I want people on my leadership team who are on a quest, people who are naturally curious and are drawn to journey of transformation . People who aren't satisfied with the status quo or life as usual. People who are on a quest are courageous. It is much easier to live " quest less ," taking the path of least resistance, but people who are on a quest are willing to live with discomfort and ambiguity...People who are on a quest are transformed." King David was this kind of a leader. Right before he killed the giant Goliath he yelled out: "This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God i

I'm not kidding. Today I have read two headlines from the newspapers that indicate that Jesus' return might be here sooner than we think. China calls for new global currency ( http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=130984 ) Citing A.I.G., Geithner Seeks Wider Power for Takeovers ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/business/25web-bailout.html?hp ) We have been talking about and teaching that the Scriptures indicate that there will come a time when there will be a one world government with one economy. That meant that the all-mighty dollar had to come crashing down and the US economy with it. I think we are at the threshold of a new world order. I think we now have a President and many members of Congress that would acquiesce to a global economy and eventually a global government. Remember the golden rule - He who holds the gold, RULES. Once a government entity, like the IMF, is given powers over the worlds currency, they will rule the world. May Jesus come soon. The an

In her book Unleashing the Power of Rubber Bands , Nancy Ortberg writes “Leadership is the promise of development. Whether it’s stated or not, inherent in great leadership is the promise that as a result of being led by me, you will emerge more connected in your relationship to God and stronger in your gifted areas. If you are my leader, it is my right to expect that I will receive that from you. And not only that, but to expect that as my leader, you will be a primary source of my development.” As leaders of men and women, we owe the people who follow us the commitment to train them and develop them for their good and growth and for the expansion of the Kingdom of God. This is what Jesus spent 3 years doing with the apostles. .

To get to where you want to go (vision) you must line up your daily activities to reach those goals. Ask yourself: "Do the activities that I engage in on a daily basis move me closer to my vision for my life?" If not, you are like a hamster running in a spinner and will end up years later asking yourself why you aren't any closer to reaching your goals. Success is not achieved in a day, but in our daily activities that inch us ever closer to to our goals.

God backs up His leaders! When Solomon wanted to build God's temple and his own palace, and a few other building projects, God gave him wisdom and grace to do it all. God appeared to Solomon after he "had achieved all he had desired to do" (1 Kings 9:1) and told him that he had heard his prayers and would continue to get behind him as long as he would remain faithful to Him. This was not a unique case. God told King Saul to do whatever he wanted (1 Samuel 10:7) and then he supported Saul by touching men's hearts to join him (1 Samuel 10:26). God did the same for David. " In everything he did he [David] had great success, because the LORD was with him." (1 Samuel 18:14) God did the same for Joshua many years earlier (Joshua 4:7). Through a miracle, God exalted Joshua in the eyes of the people after the death of Moses. " That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel." (Joshua 4:14) God has my back. As long as I remain faithful to Him,

A new car? A bigger house? Another Hurricanes national championship? Probably the last one more than the first two. This morning I read: 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart . 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Psalms 37:4-6 If I delight in Him, He will give me the desires of my heart. So what do I desire? Here is my wish list: That I can fulfill His purpose for my life - to lead a church that is seeing people come to Christ and follow Him with all their heart. That my children would serve Christ and put Him in first place in every area of their lives I hope and pray that God would fulfill these desires and that His righteousness could shine through me "like the dawn" and His just and gracious cause "like the noonday sun".

Wouldn't it be great if God went out in front of us in each battle of life to break down barriers, kill off the enemy, and give us the victory? I believe God does do it, and we ought to constantly be praying for "God to go before us" to give us victory. Once David was fighting the Philistines and when he inquired of God to know how to enter the battle, God said: "As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army." 2 Samuel 5:24 WOW! That's what I want. God going before me to strike against the evil forces (spiritual or physical) that oppose me and the kingdom-projects I am pursuing. God continued to work for David, being with him and going out before him to give him victories in his battles. God told David: I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. 2 Samuel 7:9 This will be

In the book "Better Together" (day 17), Rick Warren writes about various aspects of Respect. In the New Testament alone we are commanded at least 15 times to "respect" others - husbands, wives, bosses, brothers in Christ, and also unbelievers. So this is a serious matter with God. Day 17 helped me understand various aspects of respect. So my prayer is that I can learn to respect others by: listening patiently to others, rather than assuming I know what they are going to say or interrupting them. not gossiping being tactful when speaking - "speaking the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15) seeking to understand others, rather than pushing that I be understood being gentle, not judgemental being polite even when others are rude to me Lord help me to "Show proper respect to everyone" 1 Peter 2:17

In his blog, marketer Seth Godin wrote about "What marketers actually sell". I think he's right, but only the church can provide complete and Everlasting Hope. He wrote: Not powder or chemicals or rubber or steel or silicon or talk or installations or even sugary water. What marketers sell is hope. The reason is simple: people need more. We run out. We need it replenished. Hope is almost always in short supply. The magical thing about selling hope is that it makes everything else work better, every day get better, every project work better, every relationship feel better. If you can actually deliver on the hope you sell, there will be a line out the door. Hope cures cynicism. Hope increases productivity. Hope needs no justification. As a church leader, I must market the Free, True, and Everlasting Hope found only in Christ Jesus our Lord. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy S

I preached on living in the power of the Spirit on Sunday. I said, as I have often said, that sin short-circuits God's power in our life - the Spirit is quenched or grieved when we sin. Yet I am puzzled why many Christians who are not overtly sinning are not experiencing God's power either. It dawned on me that perhaps when we say "sin quenches the power of the Spirit in our lives", we think of big sins like sexual immorality, drug abuse, drunkenness, and the like. But perhaps what's quenching the Spirit's power in our lives are the more subtle sins that can't be detected as easily as the "big ones". These subtle sins can include worry, lack of patience (which is a lack of love), not forgiving others, criticising (judging) others, etc... Perhaps we have become like the Pharisees, clean on the outside (the big sins), but full of crap on the inside. If we are not committing the big sins and yet are not experiencing the power of the Spirit in our

This year I have 2 goals: To learn to love others more and to live in the Joy of the Lord. This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24 . The psalmist implies that rejoicing is a decision. Therefore, I will decide to live in JOY today. I can choose to be angry, bitter, frustrated, or sorrowful today. BUT, I choose to REJOICE . . As I was praying and fasting the other day, the Lord gave me 10 reasons I should REJOICE today: It feels better than the alternative God commands it ( Ps . 118:24; Phil. 3:1; 4:4) Jesus Christ wills it (John 15:11; 17:13) The Holy Spirit wants to provide it (Gal. 5:22) It will strengthen me to be more loving and godly ( Neh . 8:11) God has surrounded me with good people (Phil. 1:5) The gospel is being preached all around the world (Phil. 1:18) God is good and I can expect good things in my future (Phil 1:18-19; Jer . 29:11) Because when I die I will be with Christ which is better than being here on earth (Phil. 1:21) E