The Reward
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After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: -Genesis 15:1 New message from New Frontier series called ‘Mountain of God’ about worship, passion, and the key to the human heart. To listen or download, click here.
The laborer’s appetite works for him; A simple way of determining of where you’re going is to examine your appetite. What do you desire? What are you hungry for? What do you have to have? If you are hungry for the presence of God and the things of God, then you are headed to the right place. If you are hungry for all the things that you know you shouldn’t be connected to or involved with, then you are definitely headed for trouble. To simplify it further, if you have an appetite for the right stuff…then your destination will be right. If you have an appetite for the the wrong stuff…then your destination is guaranteed to be wrong. At the deepest level, our appetitie sets the course of our life. So…what are you hungry for?
At Jesus Culture Conference with Tiffany and the girls. Unbelievable event. Absolutely unbelievable. There was a moment during worship on Thursday night where there was such passion and intensity, that I was shocked. To see that many people (over 2000) praising and crying out to Jesus that fiercely…wow. I have only witnessed that raw intensity in worship of Jesus a few times in my life (and to see our little girls singing and crying out to God was awesome!). I am convinced that we are going to see a move of God in our generation. We are going to see it. The culmination of years of prayers, tears, and sacrifice. It is going to happen. The love of Jesus is going to be expressed worldwide in a way that we haven’t ever seen before. A move of God is coming. And I am going to be a part of the movement. The movement to change the world in the name of Jesus.
In 1964, Bob Dylan wrote the lyics, ” …you’d better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin.” Those words couldn’t apply more to our present epoch. We live in the new frontier of rapidly changing times. With social networks such as Facebook, Youtube and Ustream our communication has drastically changed since 1964. This change has affected the definition of our words and brought about the creation of new ones (see . . .terabyte, HDTV, WiFi, DVR). So with a million different voices clamoring for the heart of this igeneration, how does the church clearly communicate the timeless love and message of Jesus? To check out 1st 2 messages of the New Frontier Series, click here for “Inheritance” and here for “Flip the Switch”.
“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”
Most of us get overwhelmed with the 2 million things that we need to do that are not done. But God is not asking us to tackle 2 million things at once. He is asking us to address One Thing. One priority, one focus, one area. When we are consistently faithful in the One Thing, we can get to everything if we learn to be patient. If you don’t know what the One Thing is, ask Him. He’ll let you know. God has One Thing for all of us.
15 years ago today I was married 2 an amazing, incredible, once in a lifetime woman by the name of Tiffany Douglas. What began with a providential meeting in the mall 19 years ago, has culminated in 3 children and a 5479 day journey. Wow. Can’t wait for the next 5479. Tiffany, I love you. “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.” -Prov. 18:22
By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. -Mark 6:35-43 We often speak of ‘thinking outside the box’. By thinking outside the box, we become more innovative, creative, and more cutting edge. I sincerely believe in all these things. I like to consider myself an outside the box thinker. But sometimes thinking ‘outside the box’ gets us into trouble. That’s the problem in the above text. The discipes couldn’t keep their thoughts ‘inside the box.’ They kept thinking outside the box. Their response to the directive of Jesus was to think, “if only”. If only we had more bread we could obey your command and feed this huge crowd of people. When Jesus commands us to do something, we often say the same thing. If only: We had more supply. We had more money. We had more help. We had more talent. We had more training. We had more connections. We had more time. We had more education. If only. If only. If only. If only we had something ‘outside the box’, we could obey the commands of Jesus. But if we could keep our thinking ‘inside the box‘, we would easily become witnessess to the power of God. When the disciples finally trusted Jesus with the little that they had, a miracle happened right before their eyes. If only the people of God actually trusted Him for outside the box provision by staying faithful with what was inside the box. What amazing things we would see. If only.
For more than a week, the sports world has been in an uproar over ‘The Decision’: Lebron James leaving Cleveland to become a member of the Miami Heat. But was it so bad? Did Lebron commit a crime? Did he break the law? Is it a sin to relocate and take another job in the same field? Most of us would admit (even those in Cleveland), that no crime was committed and no laws were broken. So if that was the case then why are jerseys being burned and letters like this being written? Why has the reaction been so incredibly negative? Why has this ‘Decision’ rubbed so many the wrong way? I think this situation provides us with an incredible leadership lesson. What Lebron got wrong was: 1. He didn’t convey sincerity when he acknowledged his supporters. 2. He didn’t provide the professional courtesy in communicating with his former employers what his final decision was. 3. He didn’t seem into account how his decision would impact others. 4. He seemed to only think of himself and his personal happiness. What can leaders learn from this? 1. As leaders we must take the time to communicate. 2. As leaders we must graciously acknowledge the sacrifices others make to strengthen our leadership. 3. As leaders we must take into account how our decisions effect others. 4. As leaders we must understand that leadership is our God-given opportunity to serve.
“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” “I despaired at the thought that might life might slip by without seeing God show Himself mightily on our behalf.” God is watching. He is looking. His eyes are roaming the earth looking for loyalty. Obedience. Honor. Passion. Boldness. He is looking so He can show Himself strong on the behalf in the lives of those that are faithful. The question is: Will He find it? And will He find it in you? Will He find it in me? And if He does, how will He show Himself strong on our behalf? My Prayer: “Lord, give us the passion and the desire to live for You. Get us hearts that are loyal to you. May we honor you with integrity and purity in good times and bad times. Let us love You with all of our hearts, all of our minds, with all of our souls. And after You witness our faithfulness and our allegiance to You, show Yourself strong on our behalf. Use us to reach our generation. Use us to change our communties. Use us to heal the broken. To restore the hope of those that are in despair. Be strong in us God. We have nothing with You.”
Our clothes dryer broke about 2 months ago. Because of a strange quirk in the warranty, we had to wait 2 months before the dryer could be serviced. So for the past 2 months we have been taking wet clothes to the homes of relatives and friends, in addition to going to the landry-mat (where ladies look at your underwear!). This has been a inconvient and at times, frustrating process. Until yesterday. Yesterday it ceased to be frustrating and quickly became embarrassing. Yesterday we diagnosed what our dryer’s problem was. It wasn’t a mechanical issue where trained professionals needed to be called. It was the result of a breaker switch that simply needed to be flipped on. That was all. We flipped one switch and everything wass different (at least in the Newman home!) In many cases, change is simple. It doesn’t require complex analysis, or extensive research. It just takes one simple decision. Though simple, it still may be difficult. It may require courage. Sacrifice. Challenge. Endurance. But though all this maybe true, we can take solace in the fact that by one ‘flip the switch’, everything can be different. Flip the Switch.
“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” -Acts 17:6 As I have read through this adventure story, I came to this conclusion: Love for Jesus and commitment to His mission was the main focus of their entire lives. Anything that was in competition or in conflict with that focus was quicklty cast aside and put to death. They lived completely abandoned to God. In our generation we more commonly put to death (or at least dillute) the commitment to love Jesus and give ourselves to His mission so we can protect our methods, money, status, reputation, pride, personal priorities, and a host of other things. They lived to abandon themselves while we live to protect ourselves. Part of the challenge with the modern day, new millennium church is that we have a confused sense of purpose. We are looking to save the church (and ourselves), but the Early Church understood that Jesus created the church (through Him) to save the world. My prayer is that the world again sees a group of Jesus followers completely abandoned to God in their generation. Let’s do it again. Let’s change the world.
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