Worth Reposting…

The following is NOT my personal post but I am simply re-posting what Perry Noble posted today on his blog. It’s clearly worth pondering and sharing. Perry is the Sr. Pastor of an incredible church called NewSpring Church with campuses throughout South Carolina. NewSpring Church is an incredible gathering place of Believers who are excited about serving Jesus and serving others with the goal of making an impact for eternity…and I might say they do it with excellence.

Thank you for the reminder Perry….

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Why Would You Not Do It? April 6, 2011

One of my life verses that is always in front of me is Hebrews 11:6…

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

One of the myths that has been crippling to Christianity for years is that Jesus has called us to “play it safe”…when that is not taught OR modeled by Jesus OR His followers in the Scriptures.  (See Acts 20:24 and Galatians 2:20)

Jesus didn’t play it safe…Paul didn’t play it safe…none of the Apostles played it safe…the church in Acts 4:23-31 upon being threatened and persecuted did NOT pray for safety…they prayed for boldness!

Yet today we seem to want to play it safe…that cannot be the goal.

So what about you church leader?  Church member?  Whoever…what is that ONE THING that you KNOW the Lord is calling you to do?  You know it’s a risk…you know that in order for it to take place you are going to need divine intervention?  What is it?  Why not do it?

People have asked me before, “Pastor P, how do I know that it’s God telling me to do it and not just an idea I had?”  GREAT question…allow me to share three identifying marks that I have personally experienced.

#1 – This thing that you believe you are called to do by God will not contradict God’s Word! I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit…and I believe that He speaks as loud today as He did in the book of Acts; however, I also know according to the teachings of Scripture that the Holy Spirit will not contradict the Word of God.  So…if “that thing” that you feel called to is in direct conflict with God’s Word…then it’s not God telling you to do it.

#2 – You can’t get away from this thought…it dominates your thinking and the more you marinade on it the more you feel like you might explode. For example…I really did believe back in 1996 that Jesus was telling me I needed to start a church.  BUT…instead of running out and doing it immediately I began to read books on it (Rick Warrens books and Bill Hybels book on the subject of church planting impacted me significantly) and dove into the Scriptures to see what they taught about the subject.  AND…the more I prayed, studied and read about it…the hotter the fire inside of me became.

#3 – Godly people in your life affirm it. (SEE Proverbs 15:22)  What I have learned from personal experience is that if I do not want to share my idea with those in my life who I know really do love Jesus and love me…then…I usually know it’s not a “God idea” but rather a Perry idea.  One of the things that EVERY believer in Christ needs is godly men and women who love Jesus and love the person enough to speak the truth in love…people who value the friend more than the friendship and are willing to say what needs to be said.  ANYTIME I have ever shared a thought/idea that I really believe the Lord has placed in my heart and the people the Lord has placed in my life to love and challenge me push back…I ALWAYS take a step back and pray and think through the idea more until the Lord either gives me greater clarity OR shows me that the wise counsel of my friends is exactly what I needed to hear.

That is what works for me…so how about you?  What is that thing that you know you should do?

Life is short, hell is hot and eternity is forever!!!  The world has NEVER been impacted by Christians who spend their whole lives in a car seat and beg God to never let anything bad happen to them!

Ask HIM to set you on fire with HIS plans…and THEN GO FOR IT!

September 7th…

It’s been nearly 2 months since I have posted anything on this blog…(WAY TOO LONG) and not a day goes by that I don’t wish I had an extra hour or two for myself to just read and write.

Today is September 7th. It was 15 years ago that our first daughter came into the world and forever changed us. Yes, she was our first child, our first daughter. The one who we learned on….and she learned with us. Thank you Father for trusting us enough to give us Kristen…and thank you Kristen for the privilege of being your dad.

Kristen’s heart is unique and beautiful. Her tender compassion for others is leading her to a life of missions and ministry. She loves serving others…especially when the others are children. She will dance and sing with them and just connect with them at a heart level. Her eyes tell others that she cares…unless someone has hurt or wronged another, then the anger and disappointment is quite easy to read. Her heart is authentic and genuine. She doesn’t want to disappoint you, but she will not go against her principles for you either. Yes, she is a rule follower and for that I am thankful. Leadership is something that intimidates her at times, but when she steps into the role she does a great job. Kristen was my first princess daughter and as my grandmother always said…she is also the one that I have loved the longest.

Father, thank You for Kristen, for all that she is to me and to our family. I ask Your blessings on her as she continues to grow and mature. Help her to make wise choices. Give her the confidence to chase after the passions and dreams that You have planted in her heart. Help her to live her life out loud…and may her anthem be Your love. I ask you to work in the heart of the man you have prepared for her. May he always fight for her princess heart and empower her for the journey of life which You have called her to.

I trust you, I believe in you and I know you have what it takes to accomplish all that God has called you to do.

Kristen…I Love You…and Happy Birthday!

Communicating Hope

This is a great post I read today by Jeremie Kubicek. Do you know who you are an what God created you to do?

Communicating Hope

On a recent trip to Washington D.C. I had the privilege of meeting a great driver named Harvey. He picked me up at midnight to drive me 45 minutes to my hotel. We had an amazing conversation.

Now I realize that some of you are not into conversations with strangers at midnight while trying to get to a hotel. On this night I was in the mood to talk.

I simply started to connect with Harvey and to my appreciation he worked to connect back. What happened was amazing. We spent 20 minutes or so talking about why Georgetown basketball was amazing and if Shaq should retire or not. While I am not a basketball scout I do know enough to have a conversation, which is why it is important for influencers to be well-versed.

That said, we spent another 10 minutes getting into his world. He then asked me a great question, “How did you know what you wanted to do?” The final 15 minutes shifted to building a plan to help Harvey figure this question out.

Harvey, if you are reading this I wanted to finish the conversation to help you further. I hope you go for what we discussed.

Here is how I answered the question…

To know what you want to do you must first understand who you be. I know that is not proper grammar, but it works. It means that you must know who you are before you know what you want to do. So the obvious question came from Harvey: “How do you find out who you are?”

Here are 3 ways to find out who you are:

1. Listen to What Others Say - What do your parents, teachers, siblings, mentors, co-workers, etc. say about you. If you asked them “Who am I?” what would they say?

2. Experience Through Practice - I knew I was a pioneering encourager for years but it took me going through trial and errors to get to a confidence of who I was.

3. Get to Know Your Father - I am referring to our Heavenly father here. When we know God as our father and view ourselves as sons and daughters we will begin to ask him who we are and He tells us.

Think of it this way…

Adam knew he was God’s special creation. Out of that came his vocation - tending the garden. The problems started with that tempting apple. When Adam was cast out of the garden he had to work three times as hard to get food, so he shifted his focus on what he had to do in order to survive. Thus, Adam forgot who he was and focused more on what he had to do.

The same thing has happened in our culture. We always talk about what we do, but rarely spend time talking about who we are.

Harvey, ask your friends and family to tell you who you are. Then look back at your experience and ask God for clarity. After that you can start building a plan around the best vocation possible.

From my perspective you were amazing at connecting with me and, thus, I assume you can do that with many people. You have a high Emotional Intelligence so start looking for a vocation (whether you start a company or work for some one). Do the hard part of finding out who you are and then work on what to do. 

Wishing you the best!

Posted on March 04, 2010 in Personal Growth

The Spirit of the Age

If I were to ask you what the “Spirit of the Age” is….what would you say? Maybe you would give me a funny look and say…”I don’t have time for stuff like that.”

EXACTLY!

As I try to find a moment to just stop…or slow down enough to evaluate my life, I quickly realize I am consumed by a busy life. I have read about this. Family, a business, a wife, two daughters, a son, adoption stuff, my list could go on and on if I really shared my calendar. I have heard others talk about this. I have been moved and convicted previously by this…yet here I stand again. Consumed with busyness. What is the most effective way to render us ineffective for the things that really matter in life….Busyness! This has got to be one of Satan’s sharpest blades…it cuts so deep and yet we don’t even feel it till its too late. It renders us as effective as warm butter.

Its so easy to justify this wound, after all, the things I am doing are good…right? I am doing it for my family. I am doing it for my church. I am doing it for my kids. I am doing it for our future. Really…I can justify most anything…and I would venture to guess, so can you. If we are not careful we can get so consumed with arranging the piles of papers on our desk of life that we don’t ever get to the real work contained in those piles. I am reminded that the most efficient time at work is right before vacation since that is when I go through the piles with a different perspective. I am much less tolerant of the busywork and non-essentials…honestly, this is when I trash the most stuff from my office. If I worked this efficiently every day just what could I accomplish? How much more time would this free up for the things that really matter?

Lord, help me to stop and honestly evaluate what I am doing in this life…and do what really matters most. Show me today, and tomorrow, what is most important to You. What can I do for You that will make a difference in the lives of others? Are You pleased with this life I am living…..? Give me the guts to focus on and pursue the things that matter most. Show me what You really think of me.

Blog Site Problems

Technology…don’t you love it!

It seems that there is a problem with the blogger site and it is not posting entries properly if you are using Internet Explorer. Everything seems to work fine if you are using Firefox or Safari.

For the problems, I am sorry… I will continue to pester Google-Blogger to get this fixed.

When blogging with Windows Live Writer...

ALWAYS make sure you have the "auto-save" feature enabled. This feature is found in "Tools" - "Options" menu. A very simple click can save a bunch of FRUSTRATION when you go to open a draft you have been working on...and didn't click "Save" before closing!

Just a thought...you can do what you like.