This Christmas find ADVENTure

Theres a Light… there is Hope

Watch: Scripture Video John 1:1-5

I love that phrase, “The light shining into the darkness; and the darkness could not over come it.”  That “light” is Jesus who came into our dark world on Christmas some 2000 years ago.  And I want you to remember that phrase, “The light shining into the darkness; and the darkness could not over come it” because this Christmas despite the “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and the “Joy to the World”; I know for many it can be a very dark season.

 We are starting a new series today.  It’s the kind of series that will take us on several adventures. This Christmas, we don’t want it just to be an advent season, but a season of ADVENTure.

JESUS IS THE LIGHT

 I know there are so many of you that need to take an advent(ure) this Christmas: 

from a place of despair to a real hope!

It was a guy named John, who knew Jesus better than almost anyone on earth says about Jesus, “4…He is the light of all mankind. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not over come it.” What you might miss, but was clear to the first readers of John’s gospel is that John is clearly saying that Jesus is God!  He is intentionally using the same language as the prophet Isaiah who prophesied,  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2)  

He is saying that Jesus is God!  And he is the light for all of us who are walking in darkness. So, what does it mean for Jesus to be our “light”?

1. LIGHT OFFERS DIRECTION

In Jesus day, when it got dark at night it was dark.  Real dark.  Pitch black dark. There were no streetlights, no city lights, no flashing headlights – just darkness.  So, once it got dark you didn’t go anywhere because unless it was the light of the moon, you couldn’t see anything.  But the light of a lantern or the light of a torch were the only sources that could provide enough light to give direction in the darkness.  A light can give us direction.

For many of us, we can relate to all or parts of Hannah’s story:  the worry, the despair.  Feeling lost.

Jesus is the light in the middle of all that darkness that can give you guidance and direction.  In much the same way that the light from the Christmas star shone brighter than all the rest and guided those first wisemen; if you will let him, Jesus through the power of His Spirit will guide you and direct you during the darkest times of your life. He can give you wisdom.  He can give you guidance.  Jesus is a light that will direct you in your darkest of times!

2. LIGHT OFFERS PROTECTION

The dessert wilderness of Israel was a tough and not very hospitable place.  During the day the heat would parch your throat and boil your skin.  And at night the darkness was cold and could be equally dangerous.  The darkness brought with it the dangers of thieves and wild animals who would keep their distance during the day, but not at night.  So the light of a fire would provide warmth and protection from thieves and wild predators.

When we go through seasons of anxiety n despair and we feel like we are not worthy or we have to hide who we really are – we are vulnerable to predators.  We are vulnerable to predatory people who will take advantage of us.  We are vulnerable to the predator of bad choices that seem so right.  What the light of Jesus and his people will do is protect us! When we go through the valley of the shadow death we know he is with us.  Jesus promised, “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  His light will protect you!

3. LIGHT OFFERS ENCOURAGEMENT

When John wrote these words about Jesus, He is the light of all mankind. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not over come it.”  Perhaps the most common image of light was the light of a fire and in particular kind of a campfire.  And a campfire was a safe place, not just for one, bur for all to come and gather.  In the middle of a cold, dark, directionless and dangerous night – a fire would become a place where people would gather and find other people.  Other people just like them.  Community.  

That was what Jesus had in mind with the church. That we would be a place as it describes in 1 Corinthians 2:3,4 which says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”  We gather and encourage and comfort one another.

Just a week or so ago I sat up in my daughter Allisons room (she's been diagnosed with Bi-Sacroiliitis and bed-ridden due to extreme pain) and read to her this very passage of scripture… encouraging her with the Word of God - that believe it or not the difficulties we face in life, as hard as they are in the moment or weeks or months or years that somewhere down the road the Lord will use your hardship you endured to encourage others.

The Light brings encouragement 

I guess that is what Jesus meant when he said, “You are the light of the world!”  When the light of Jesus comes to live inside of us; not only is he the light, but together we become the light!  “A light that shines in the darkness; and the darkness will not overcome it!

This is an adventurous season. May we all see the light and the hope that it offers… then grab a hold of what God has in store for us personally in our lives 

Its a purpose-filled life that God wants for everyone who chooses to follow Christ.  The adventurous life of following Jesus is not reserved for “saints” and “super Christians”; it’s a way that life can be lived with God’s help by anyone who opens themselves to it.

And it will be an adventure!

watch video of entire message: There is a Light....there is HOPE

Miley Cyrus VMA 2014 acceptance speech ...... Now what?

Miley Cyrus does it again..... she shocks the watching world at the VMA's.
This time however she takes a quick curve that nobody saw coming. When everyone is waiting in anticipation for another far fetched show, she sends someone else up to accept the award for her. This unknown young man's name is Jesse and he's homeless in L.A.

Here's the acceptance speech:

How about that?
He tells everyone who he is, then asks for us to help him and the many other homeless right here in America by directing them to a link to give to  My Friend’s Place, a Hollywood shelter for the homeless.

As I consider what happened after that acceptance speech,  I think of Jesus' words in Matthew 25:34-40

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"

So about it church? What is our response this year?
Because I remember the response last year. Folks were very quick to tear down Miley for the provocative dancing antics with tongue dangling. That didn't go over well with many.

But how do we respond this year?
Will we be as quick to help, to be a part of reaching out to those who cannot help themselves? Will we do it as quickly as the arrows that were shot last year?

It’s time the Church returned to its roots, and remembered our true purpose in life. God did not tell us to pursue political agendas or become moral policemen. Instead, He told us to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, tend to the sick, and love the lost, for they are the true treasures of Heaven.

Other helpful organizations:
YWAM Houston  
Strong Tower 
Star of Hope

small things BIG Difference - ONE WORD

I thought we’d do this since we are half way through year, yeah I said it.
'Cuase doesnt it seem like just a month or so ago it was January you we were laying out New Years goals?  And we always have this real sense of optimism and faith and hope that this year, there are some things about my life and the lives of those that I love that could actually be different.
 There's always this sense, in the new year, that this is the year we could make some changes.  So I don't know about you, maybe some of you would like to get in better shape or lose some weight, eat better, maybe be more spiritually focused this year, perhaps spend more time with your kids.  Maybe some of you want to get better with your money or quit some kind of annoying habit.  I don't know what it would be, but I pray that God would give you the power to achieve those goals this year, because there's something about starting a new year that just brings hope.

So here we are half way through and we’re thinking “boy I should start” haha
Or better yet maybe we need to refocus.
We look at our lives and say, "I need to get those results. And I have no idea all the big  changes that I would need to make."
 I want to bring some good news to you today if you've ever felt that way.  Because, I really believe that it's not often the BIG changes that we need to make, but it's often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.
Let me say that again because I really believe there's power in this thought, that it's not the big things, but it's often the small things that no one sees that  result in the big things that everyone wants.
                        Let me give you a couple examples.  There was a guy, years ago, that I really admired the way he walked with God. I don't know if you've ever known anyone like this but he didn't just call himself a Christian, you could just tell that  this guy was very prayerful.  When he would respond, he would be searching for scriptures in his mind.  You could just really sense this guy was being led by the Spirit in everything that he did.  Someone asked him, "Man, what's your  secret?  Like, what are the big things you do to have these  results?"  He said, "Well, I honestly think things changed for me 17 years ago when I started reading through the bible every year.  Just each year, I'd read from cover to cover through the bible, and that really helped me be grounded in the things  of God."
                        The person was like, "Oh, well, of course, 17 years of  reading the bible, I could never do that.  That's such a big thing."  He said, "No, no, no, no.  Really, it's not."  He said, "Think about it.  It takes me about 15 minutes a day.  And if I'm just faithful in that small thing, over the course of a year, I actually read through the bible."  A 15-minute discipline changed his life.  The guy thought, "You know what?  I can do that.  I can devote 15 minutes a day."  to just make that small change to make a gigantic difference in my walk and relationship with God.
                         I'll give you another example. Any of you workout/exercise, maybe go to the gym?  Have you ever had the thought, “I workout I go to the gym, I don't see any changes., "What's wrong with me?"  In an article in the magazine Mens Health shares a conversation between 2 guys:
“there's this one guy, I'm looking at him going,  "You're ripped.  I'm not.  What am I doing wrong?" 
 I said,  "Give me some advice.  What are the big things you do?"  He said, "Really, it's not big things.  I just work out four days  a week."  I'm like, "Really?  Four, not seven?"  He said, "No, four's enough."  I said, "How long are your workouts?  Two hours long?"  He said, "No, 20 minutes of weights and 20 minutes of cardio."  I'm like, "You're kidding me.  40  minutes, four days?"  "Yeah, that's about it."  I said, "What about your diet?"  He said, "Well, low carbs, high protein." "What else?  What else?"  "Nothing.  That's it."  "Oh, what? Low carbs, high protein, 40 minutes, four days a week?"  He said, "Yeah, that's about it."  And so I thought, "I think I can do that."
               
  Here’s the deal folks...  chances are it's not the big things that you think, but it's often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.

  And so what I want to do today is build a foundation.
We're going to start in Zechariah, chapter 4.  
       So let me give you the context of Zechariah, chapter 4.  During the time when this was written, the temple was destroyed and God's people were in captivity so it was a low point in history.  We don't have a house for God and we're not  even in the place that we're supposed to be.  And so people were very depressed.  In the year 537 B.C, Zerubbabel led a remanent of people back to Israel, and so there was some hope. We're back in the land where we're supposed to live.  And then 18 years later, God spoke to King Zerubbabel and said, "I'm going to give you the power to rebuild the temple."
                         So let's start in verse 6 of Zechariah 4 and we'll read it and let it speak to us. “This is what the Lord said to Zerubbabel:  "It's not by force nor by strength."  In other words, the temple's not going to be built in a way that you get credit for it, but it's going to be by my what?  Everybody let's say it aloud.  "It's not by force, not by strength, but by My Spirit says the Lord of heaven's armies."  Here's the thing.  You can try to change and you can try in your own power.  And you can make some incremental improvements by your power.  But if you'll tap into a power greater than that which you possess, if you tap into the power of the Holy Spirit, His Spirit is made perfect in your weakness.  And not by our effort, not by our might, not by our power, but by His Spirit, he can transform you.
                         It's like when I was trying to fix the railing along our stairs. It had come loose a bit and one of the supporting brackets needed to be mounted better.  And I can't -- I don't fix anything.  I can barely fix a sandwich.  And I was fighting with this little screw driver, it was much too small, trying to get this thing screwed into a stud. I went out to the garage to get other tools and our neighbor 3 houses down Jim is walking by and asks what I’m doing. I explain the railing & my hard time which he says I’ll be back. 5 minutes later he shows up with the tool belt on w/ all these funny looking tools or something idk - and 5 minutes later he moves the bracket to a stud in the wall and Voilà the railing is solid.
I tell him he's awesome and he goes back home.
Three minutes later, Cathleen walks in and she said, "Joe, did you?"  You fixed it!” She hugs me
Now I’m lovin this folks. I am superman right now. So after her excitement I tell her… actually Jim fixed the railing   And she said, "Oh that makes sense" and walks away.
 Bottom line is, I can fight all day long in my own strength, but every now and then, you need a little neighbor Jim power drill strength.  Okay?
                         You can try your best all day long to make all your changes, but when you tap into the Spirit of God, there is a strength beyond what you can muster up on your own.  Some of you, you've tried for years to change something, to improve something, and you cannot do it.  This is the year that it will not be by your might nor by your power, but by His Spirit says the Lord.  God says, "I'm going to give you my power to rebuild this temple."
                         Verse 7 says, "Nothing, not even a mighty mountain will stand in Zerubbabel's way.  It will become level plane before him."  In other words, when God calls someone to do something, there is no force on earth that can stop the power and the will of God through that person.
                         He goes on to say, "And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the temple in place, the people will shout 'May God bless it.'"  May God bless it.  I love the fact that before the construction starts, God already sees the end. Before you even attempt to do what God puts on your heart, God knows what the result can be if we surrender to the power of His Spirit.
          Beginning in Verse 8 says, "Then another message came to me from the Lord.  
Zerubbabel is the one who laid the foundation of this temple and he will complete it."  
If you'll pause there for a moment, I did a little research on the background of this story, and what I found is that the initial phases of the construction was actually very awkward.  It went rather slowly.  And if you read in Ezra, there were times when people visited the early stage of construction, and they actually cried.  They cried.  It's debatable as to why they cried.  Some people believe they cried because they were happy that the temple was being rebuilt.  More people actually argue that they cried because they were embarrassed because it was so unimpressive.  They're like, "This is so small and so pathetic.  There's just a few rocks there.  This isn't going to amount to anything."
 And the reality is that's the way we often feel.
                         You go to the gym, you're on the treadmill, and you're thinking, "I've got to lose all this weight and I've only lost 1 pound.  There's no way I'm going to get anywhere."  "I've got make all these changes.  I try so hard and I go three days and I fall back into it."
And we get so embarrassed so often by the small beginnings.
                              Verse 10 says this -- and I hope this will encourage some of you -- "Do not despise these small beginnings.  For the Lord rejoices to see the work begin."

You've got to put one stone before you put a second stone.  You've got to start somewhere.
 And God rejoices to see you be faithful in the small things.
                         One of the challenges is so often, we look at people and we see their highlight reels and we know our behind the scenes.  And we get so intimidated.  You look at people in the bible and you're like, "Look at David.  He was a man after God's own heart.  He took down Goliath.  I want to take down my giant."  But we forget that he was faithful for years in the fields, tending sheep.  And whenever a wild animal would come up, he would run off the animal or he would kill the animal.  What was happening?  He was learning to be faithful with the small things so God could trust him with the big  things.
 People look at Ruth and Boaz.  Girls, all the time, "I want a husband like Boaz.  Boaz just sounds handsome." Okay?  You forget Ruth was faithful to Naomi when she didn't have to be, when it would have been easier not to be.  She was faithful out in the fields for years and years, for time after time.  And it was that faithfulness that opened the doors of God's blessing through Boaz.  It was the things that no one saw that resulted in the marriage that everyone wanted.
We look at Daniel in the bible like, "Oh, he's got such great faith.  I mean, he's standing in a lion's den, and his faith is unwavering.  I want faith like that."  Well, we forget that three times a day, year after year, you know, what Daniel did?  He stopped whatever he was doing, knelt down three times a day, and sought the Lord in prayer.  What kind of faith do you think you would have if you devoted three specific times a day, everyday, to seeking after God?
It's the things that no one sees that results in what everyone wants.
 There’s a great book called "Wooden on Leadership."  It was about John Wooden, one of the greatest  basketball coaches of all time.  He coached for U.C.L.A, ten NCAA titles, seven consecutive titles, unheard of between 1967 and '73.  You know what the first practice consisted of for Coach Wooden?  He brought the players in, didn't run drills, didn't run sprints, didn't practice free throws or passing.
The very first practice consisted of sitting down, putting your socks on and putting your shoes on very very carefully. Because, he found that no one ever thinks about how you put your socks on, and therefore, you get blisters.  And he made a very important point that we're a team that cares about the
details, because the details matter.
In fact, John Wooden said this:  It's the little things that are vital.  Little things make the big things happen.
I love that.  It's so often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.

 And it's in these small changes, that maybe no one else will notice, will bring about the results, I believe, that we've always wanted.  Because it's impossible to describe the power of a focused life.  When you focus on one thing,
               it's amazing what you can accomplish.
                       There's power in focus.
      Paul, in the New Testament, who was the greatest apostle of all time, if you remember, he had a really hard past.  Not only as a non-Christian, at first, but then as a Christian, he faced massive persecution.  He was beaten, shipwrecked, left for dead, snakebitten, he was hungry, he was stoned many times -- and not recreationally speaking.  You know what I'm saying?  "Oh, I didn't know we could do that. Okay, let's go to Colorado.  Meet you there."  No, no, that's not what I'm talking about.  Okay?  No, no.  We're talking about the guy endured some massive pain.  And you know what he said?  Rather than saying, "Oh, I'm going to think about my past.  Oh, it's been so hard.  You wouldn't believe how mean they are to me.  Oh, they persecuted me all the time."  You know what he said?  He said, "This one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining on toward what is ahead."  I'm not going to let my past define my future.  God has something more for me.  So this one thing I do, I let go of all that, and I'm moving forward because God has something else for me.
 This one thing. (watch this… vid)

When you focus on one thing, it's amazing what God can do.
 But when you miss your one thing, it's amazing the blessings you can miss.            

           Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha, in Luke, chapter 10, and Mary was enjoying the presence of Jesus and Martha was wigging out.  "The tea's luke warm, the dishes don't match."  Whatever.  I don't know what she's doing but you can use your imagination.  Jesus looked at her, he said, "Martha, you're upset about so many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary" -- who was sitting at the feet of Jesus --  "has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her."  You missed the most important thing.
   It's amazing what a life of focus can actually bring.  It's often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.
                     So here's your assignment, very simple, and very focused, very direct and very doable.  What I'm going to challenge you to do is get as focused as you can.  What I want to do is I want to ask you to seek God for one specific word that will define and guide your direction for the rest of this year. One word.  And then you can also put a verse to it, because this is not going to be by our might or by our power, but by God's Spirit that he will empower us to move forward.  And you will not believe how different the rest of your year, and your life can be when you focus on one God-breathed word that can help direct your decisions and guide your life.
                         Let me just tell you how I've used this in my own life. My word for the rest of this year is the word  'change.'"  And let me tell you why.
God is desiring change within me. You see I too, like many others have found myself in a rut. Wanting to see some specific goals but not seeing any tangible results. In my personal life, in my family life, in our church.
So I spent some time looking over the goals I’ve had in those different areas and recognizing that YES change needs to happen.
                         The verse that I chose -- I actually love this verse  from Isaiah 54:2 because it shows the desire for growth but the importance of roots.  It reads, "Enlarge the place of your  tent.  Stretch out your tent curtains wide.  Do not hold  back." I love that motivation.  "Lengthen your cords," but  also what do you need to do?  You need to "strengthen your  stakes."  In other words, if you want your influence to grow larger, you also have to make sure your roots grow deeper.
Thus some of the changes that need to take place for me in all those areas.

    I would ask you: What's your one word going to be?  When you pray and seek God,   let me tell you how it's going to start off.  When you hear and believe God has spoken to you about a word, guess what? You've got confidence.  You can hear from God.  If you can hear from God about that, you can hear from God about something else.  Suddenly, you've got some spiritual momentum and you've got a word.  Then you take your word -- I don't know what it is -- "faith, believe, focus, healing,  discernment, generosity, serving," whatever.  Then you type that in google and type in "serving in the bible."  Just do that.  "Serving in the bible." along with your word.  And then there will be verses that come up.  And then you pick you a verse, and then you write it in lipstick on your mirror.  You may get it -- I was  going to say "get it tattooed," but that would be a bad idea 25 years later, because you'd have 25 years.  Don't do it -- but, you know, you get it framed and you put it somewhere that's important to you.  And suddenly, when you wake up, there's a verse and there's a word that's focusing you throughout the year.  "Discipline," and suddenly you're disciplined, you're making wise choices.  "Extra," you're making a little extra effort in all that you do.  "Details,"you're following details.  "Relationships," you're sitting there serving people in relationships.  And then at the end of the year, someone's going to come up to you and say, "Hey, what's up with you?  I don't get it.  I mean, I don't mean to be rude but you weren't in such good shape last year.  Now  you're in good shape."  They're going to say, "I don't get it. You know, you weren't really involved in the church, and now you're like Mr. Church guy or Miss Church lady, you're there all the time, and you're full of joy because you're making a difference."  Or, you know, "You didn't seem to even have a good marriage.  Now you're like newly weds, like "hunka,  hunka, burning love", all the time.  What happened to you?"  "You  weren't even that close to God and now, you know, all you talk  about is how great it is to be used by God.  What happened to you?  What big things?"  And you're going to say, "You know what?  I've got to be honest with you.  It wasn't anything really big, but it was God put something small in front of me and I just decided to be faithful in the small things over  time."
                         Because you know what God loves?  God loves when you're faithful in the small things.  He says, "Well done, my  good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in the small things so guess what?  You are promotable.  Now I can trust you with even bigger things."  And when people look on and wonder how is your life so different?  What?  They can't even  fathom.  And you just say, "You know what?  It's really not the big things but it's the small things that God put on my heart."

 Because, when you focus on one thing, it's amazing what God can accomplish through you.  Don't let anybody fool you; it's not the big things.  It's made up of faithfulness in the small  things over time.  It's often the small things that no one ever sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.

Do how about you? What's your ONE WORD?
Post it in the comments section for yourself and it will certainly encourage many others :)


Video link to this message given at Focus Church: ONE WORD

link: Focus Church media page

The Power of Your Words

Video Highlights from "The Power of Your Words"

Today, what I want to do is I want to talk to you about the power of your words.
Think about this: In the beginning, was the word and the word was with God.  And the word was God.  And the word became flesh.  Whenever God created the world, he did it with the spoken word; our words are incredibly powerful.
                         In fact, Solomon said this about our words in Proverbs 18:21, he said, "The tongue has massive power."  What kind of power does the tongue have?
               He said, "The tongue has the power of life and of death."  Again...  The tongue has the power of life and of death."  In other words, the words that we speak, can be life-giving words or the words we speak can be life-taking words.
 "If you want to change the life you have, you need to change the words you speak."
James said this a long time before I did. If you're not a church person, you may not know who James is. James is actually the brother of Jesus.  And some scholars believe that James is the best evidence in the divinity of Christ.  How do I know that?  Because, imagine this:  What would your brother have to do to convince you that he was the son of God?  Think about that.  Okay?  If James thought Jesus was the son of God, that's pretty good evidence, if you ask me.  This is what James, the brother of Jesus, said, in chapter 3, verses 3 through 5, he talked about how small things can make a big difference.  He said, "We can make a" what size horse?  He said, "We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of" a what?  "By means of a small bit in his mouth.'  A little small bit can move a large horse, because small things can make a big difference.  And then he talked about a huge ship, and he said, "a what size rutter"?
               "A little small rutter makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong."  Small things can make a big difference.
                         And then he continued in this line of thinking, talking about the power of our words and the power of our tongue.  He said, "In the same way, the tongue is" what?  "It is a small thing that can make grand speeches."  
In other words, a well crafted speech can move a crowd to do massively good things.  The flip side is true as well.  "But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire."  There is power of life and death in our words.  You can speak life-giving words or life-taking words.
                         For example, if you show me a marriage that is struggling, I can guarantee you what we'll see will be a lot of life-taking words.  On the other hand, you show me a marriage that's doing well, and I promise you, you will see an abundance of life-giving words.
 You take somebody that you don't like to be around, they makes you feel small and unimportant, maybe you've had a boss thats demeaning, what you'll find is an abundance of life-taking words.  On the other hand, there's someone that you love to be around, they build you up, what you're going to see is plenty of life-giving words.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, he contrasted, many times, the difference between life giving and life-taking words.  Let's look at two scriptures.  Proverbs
12:18.  He said, "The words of the reckless", what do they do? "They pierce like swords."  I bet every single one of you have been pierced before by life-taking words, but the tongue of the wise" does what?  It brings healing, it's life giving.
                         Someone can give you just the proper word at the right time and you're like, "oh, that's all I needed to go on."  It's life giving.  Then he says in Proverbs 15:4, he says, "The soothing tongue is a" what?  It's "a tree of life." It's life giving.  But on the other hand, "a perverse tongue" does what?  "It crushes the Spirit."  I don't know how many of you have had your spirit crushed by life-taking words.  My guess is almost everybody has, at some point.  It can be as meaningless as when someone looks at you and says, "Did you mean to do that to your hair?"  You're like, "Oh, you don't
like it?  I just got it done.  I paid a lot of money for that."  You know? (thats only happened to me a couple of times)  Or like, "Why aren't you married at this age in your life?"  You're like, "Shut up and get out of my face right now."  And they hurt you.  Or it could be something much more intentional, "I can't stand you," "I found someone else," "I never loved you anyway," "you're pathetic," or "I wish I never had you."  Life-taking words pierces like a sword,
crushes the spirit.
                         On the other hand, many of you have been blessed by life-giving words.  "Man, I'm so proud of you," "you're the best of the best," "I'd marry you all over again," "you're my dream come true," "I'm so thankful God put you in my life." And that just builds you up.  There's something about
 life-giving words.  It's healing to the soul.
                         when my girls were young, I’d come home from work and theyd be sitting in front of TV or doing something in the house together - I’d walk over to them and with the look of amazement I’d say “Hey wait you live here? You live in this house too? I get to live with these 2 amazing girls? WOW!” and theyd giggle & we would play for a bit. As theyve gotten older I would and still do speak to the positive traits in their lives. Tell them how amazing they are.
With Cathleen, well she has many many amazing traits that I will compliment her on. One of those I noticed early in our marriage is her incredible work ethic. She is tops when it comes to whatever she does in the work place. Early in our marriage I would often tell her, “Youre the bestest worker ever”
No matter what she was doing she is one of those people that rises to the top. , there's something about life-giving words.
                            What I want to do is help you audit your words and ask yourself, "Are you speaking more life-giving words or life-taking words to other people?"  And then I want you to think about the words you speak to yourself.  Okay?  Let's start with other people. on a scale 1 through 10.  If you speak more  life-taking words, you know, "you didn't do a good job," "why is your room a mess," "I can't stand that," "you always leave the toilet lid up," "you're pathetic," "you make me crazy," "you drive me nuts," "you know, I wish I'd never", whatever. If that's you, I want you to put a 1, 2, 3, 4, something down there.
                         If on the other hand, you speak more life-giving words, "I'm so proud of you," "You're the best husband," "I thank God for you", "Man, that was an incredible meal," "you're doing a great job,"  "You're an incredible employee," "I'm so glad I hired you," I want you to take a moment and be real honest and circle what you think represents your words with others.  Go ahead and do it right now.  I want to see  everybody doing this; this is important.
                         And then, let's talk about our words to ourselves. Are your words to yourselves more life taking or more life giving?  Think about your inner talk, what you say in your mind.  Do you say more life-taking words like, "Man, you're going to blow this," "you're no good," "Your life's always going to be bad," "This is going to be a tough day," "Oh, my gosh, I'm so tired," "Things never work out for me, I never get the breaks."  If that's you, put a lower number.
                         If on the other hand, you say, "You know what?  God is with me.  God is going to bless me."  "I'm so thankful for this day.  We're going to nail it.  This is going to be great. With Christ I can do all things who gives me strength," then put a higher number.
Here’s a question: How many of you speak more life-giving words to others than you do to yourself?  I'm just curious. To others than you do to yourself?  Kind of what I thought. Okay?
If you didn't put a 10 on both of these, guess what?
               There is tremendous room for improvement.  Why?  Because there is power in our words.  If you want to change the life you have, change the words you speak.  You make some small changes in the words you speak, and that will make big difference in the life that you have.  Our words have the power of life and our words have the power of death.  So let me give you two very very powerful rules about life-giving words.
                         The first one, I'm going to sound like your mama, with no apologizes at all, because you're mama was right when she said,
"If you can't say something helpful, skip it.  Don't say anything at all."
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.  Skip it.  The Apostle Paul said it this way in Ephesians 4:29.  He said, "Do not let any" what?   Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only" what kind of talk?  The kind of talk that is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  
Man, if that doesn't convict some of you, you're not paying attention.  Do not let anything unwholesome come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up.  Some of you, if you just applied this one verse to your life, to your marriage, to your parenting, to your work relationships, to your friendships, then your whole time at church was incredibly worthwhile.  Okay?  The King James Version says this:  "If you can't say something helpful, shut thy trap."  It doesn't really say that, but it should.  Okay?  Shut your mouth.  And do not elbow your spouse.  Do not elbow your spouse.  Don't do like this.  Okay?  Because if you're elbowing it, you need to elbow yourself.  I'm talking to you.  Okay?  You need to hear this.  If you can't say something helpful, skip it, close it, bite it, zip it, don't say anything at all.  Very simple, very direct.
                         The second rule --    Number two, if you think something good, say it.  If you think something good, say it.  This is a rule that I try to apply and live out anytime I think something good about someone else, about God, about myself, about my circumstances, I want to give it life by saying it.  In fact, Proverbs 16:24 says, "Gracious words are like a honeycomb.  They are sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."  Notice Solomon did not say, "Gracious thoughts are like a honeycomb."  What did he say?  "Gracious words," not thoughts.  See, I can have a good thought about you.  You're like, "What are you doing?"  [looking around] "What are you doing?"  "Thinking about you." Well, that doesn't mean anything.
But if I set it free then the words have the power to give life and bless.
                        Words are so powerful.  Words are so powerful.
               When you think something good, send a text, post the comment, write the note, pick up the phone and call them.  Say it to them.
Tell them every single time-- make it a rule.  Make it a rule. You want to change your relationships?  Every time you think something good, say it.  Make it a rule.  Don't ever hold a blessing back.  Why rob anyone else from a blessing of giving them life?  Every time you think it, say it.
                         And not just to other people, but say it to yourself.  Because, if you look at your word audit, many of you are saying very negative things to yourself.  You're speaking life-taking words to yourself.  Why would you ever want to do that?  Okay?
                         David (King, Psalmist)-- I love looking at his story -- one time,  when he was worried that he was going to be killed, he spoke life-giving words to himself.  In fact, the text says "David  encouraged himself in the Lord, his God."  I love this.  He  encouraged himself.
                         Every now and then, I just have to preach to myself. I don't know about you but I need to tell myself, "God, you'll give me faith for this.  God, I believe that your hand is upon me.  God, I believe that you're working in all things to bring about good because I love you and I'm called according to your purpose."  Every now and then, you just have to speak to yourself and encourage yourself with words of life and affirmation, encouraging yourself, not just that you can do it, but that God can do it through you.  Encourage yourself in the things of the Lord.

Part 2 of this series Cathleen gave us a great measuring stick when it comes to the idea of small things, big difference. She asked us to use the fruit of the Spirit as a barometer - she did it with our thoughts. This week lets walk through that exercise with our words:
Are your words loving? Are you speaking tender hearted loving words to others? To yourself?
Are your words joyful? Life giving joy or life taking sorrow?
Are your words peaceful? Are they soothing or pouring gasoline on the fire?
Are your words carefully, patiently thought through before spoken? Or immediately spew heat?
Are your words kind? Are they good?
Do they demonstrate faithfulness and perseverance that God really has this under control?
Are your words gentle? Speaking the truth in love?
When you speak are you showing self control or after they are spoken do you think oh man I shouldn't have said that?
What a great tool for us to use with the words we speak. Who knew God’s Word could be so helpful in our everyday going about life ways? Well… you did, didnt you?

                    in week number one, I asked you to focus in on one small thing.  What did we talk about?  Having one word that would drive and direct the rest of this year.  Last week, Cathleen talked about having one thought that would drive and direct the rest of this year.  This week, I want to talk to you about having one statement.  One statement, that you say again and again and again and again, that will drive and direct the rest of this year.  One small statement that can make a big difference in
 the way you live.
                         Now, I know what some of you are thinking, some of  you are thinking, "Can my thought be my statement?"  And the answer is "of course, but it can't stay a thought, it has to become a statement."  Not only do we think about things that are lovely, pure, admirable and excellent, but we also give life to it by taking our life- giving thoughts and making them life-giving words.
                         For example, my one word is "Change."  My one thought  is from Is. 54:2, and that is "I will do my best to create the change needed."  And so I can honestly tell you, with integrity, I've said that out loud over and over and over again.  Why?  Because I'm so spun up, I can't shut my mind down.  Actually, that's not true.  I can shut my mind down because that's the way I want it.  Okay?  "I will do my best to create the change needed." I've said it again and again and again, because I will be better  in the things that matter, and will have a stronger impact when I'm doing it out of his power and not in  my own efforts.  I will do my best to enter into this new season.  I can't  tell you what one small statement again and again and again,  how big of a difference it can make in your life.
                         One statement.  Don't miss the power of this.  It's the small things that no one's sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.  If you want to change the life you have, change the words you speak, because words are powerful.  They have the power of life and of death. We don't speak life-taking words to others.
   We speak life-giving words to others.  We don't speak life-taking words to ourselves, we encourage ourselves in the Lord.  If we think something that's not good, we're going to skip it.  We're going to bite it.  Every time,  though, we think something good, we're going to give life to it, and we're going to say it and we're going to bless others in what we say.  We're not going to let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up, according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  Why?  Because our words matter.  If we make small changes in the words we speak, it will make a big difference in the life we live.  If we want to change our world, we start by changing our words.  Because it's the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.
               And our words will glorify God, improve our relationships and make us more like Christ because that's the way we want it. And thats the way God wants it.

To view or listen to the entire series, "small things, BIG Difference"
go to Focus Church Media Page.
                 

5 Reasons why the NHL playoffs are better than the NBA

Here it is folks.........

Five Reasons why the NHL playoffs are better than the NBA:

1. DRAMA - Now I know what you're thinking... the NBA is all about drama.
Thats true but its character drama - the headlines the next day are, “Who said what to who?” “Referee blows call” “Did you see this guy blow in that guys ear?”
and let us not forget the incredible hollywood acting of the players flopping to the floor when they didn't even get touched. Basically its the equivalent of Real Housewives of 'you pick the city'”. 
I think it would be a really good idea if NBA players sat down and watched an NHL game to see men on the floor not whining and complaining about foul calls and falling down in theatrical pain because another player touched them on the elbow with a feather.

The only drama in the NHL is the story of the game developing on the ice.

Famous NBA Flop

I realize #1 alone proves the point but theres more....

2. Team play versus Stars - in the NBA you have 5-6 players who have zero impact on the game as they sit on the bench throughout. The NHL requires all 21 ready to go and swap out lines.

3. Sudden Death Overtime - there is absolutely no NBA equivalent to that excitement and intensity.

4. Close Contested Games - NHL games are always down to wire. 22 NHL playoff games went into overtime. 39 games were decided by 1 goal.

The average NBA point difference in Conference Finals was 14.8, thats not a close game.

5. Pace - in the last minute of an NBA game it takes about 35 minutes to play. Versus the NHL super fast pace. Players have to make decisions on the fly. You cannot walk out of the room in the last few minutes of an NHL game, if you do you might miss two goals and broken jaw. However in the last few minutes of an NBA game you can go to the store and get back in time to watch 4 more timeouts.

So there you have it. Pretty Basic. Pretty Simple. Very Real.

Sensing God wherever you are

Sequoia National Forest 

As the Summer season nears it makes me wonder of the plans, vacations, getaways, etc... that you can plan throughout this season. The children are home, usually bored out of their mind looking for something to do. So some sort of family time away together can be a whole lot of fun and maybe necessary :)
It reminds me of our big family summer vacation last year.
It was one of those bittersweet adventures.
We left together as our family of four but only 3 of us returned.
Our oldest daughter stayed in California for her 1st year of college.
The 2 week vacation included a ton of fun but closed with a very tearful goodbye as Jessica stayed in her dorm room.
The week prior in our California vacation while we were still all together we spent 4 days at Sequoia National Park. It was a wonderful time of relaxing together and some time away from the world.... literally.
There was no cell service where we were. Hence no internet which created a fantastic reality of "unplugging".
During those days I began each morning with a walk by myself through the forest and along the creek trails.
At one point of each walk I would climb over some rocks within the creek to place myself right in the middle sitting atop a rock while the water was running through the cracks and crevices and over the top of smaller rocks creating a soothing, very pleasant and peaceful sound.
I would sit there with my eyes closed listening to that sound near me and echoing through the forest. Along with other birds and wildlife all around me.
I just sat there focused on God and reflecting as I listened.
I really like those times, those places. They are so peaceful, so encouraging and revitalizing.
I'd imagine you feel the same way.

As I lingered reflecting, hearing the bubbling of the water, in some places it hurried over rocks then trickled slowly through a pool of water. Everywhere it was moving forward, sometimes loudly sometimes like a quiet undercurrent.
Gods Spirit moves similarly in our lives. At times Gods presence is audible and obvious and many times He is the quiet current moving through our lives revitalizing us.
Whether bold or noisy, hushed or subtle, the Spirit is always there if we pause long enough to listen.
No matter where you are.

So here's a thought:
Stop and listen to the sounds around you right now. What do you hear? Traffic? Nature? People?
Reflect on how they display and express Gods presence in your life today.

"If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from that person’s heart, as the Scripture says.”  John 7:38

Holy Spirit, thank you for Your presence and Your movement through my life.

Are you pursuing Convenience or Consistency?

Talk is cheap isn't it? Think about how many resolutions are made and broken and weeks of the initial commitment. We all have good intentions, but somehow our resolve fades over time and we fall back into our failed patterns of behavior that has robbed us of the fullness of life Jesus came to give. 

So what do we do......

As we tackle this new challenge, as we pursue a deep relationship with God and abundant faith, we do it with our eyes on the prize. Our goals nor godliness never happens by accident. 

Daniel and his friends Hanniah, Mishael and Azariah were Israelites from the royal family. They were handsome, bright and quick to learn. They were considered the best of the best. And the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar wanted them; he put them into his training program designed to fully indoctrinate them into the ways and culture of Babylon.

The culture was attractive and enticing. It appealed to one's desire for success, sensuality, self-indulgence and status. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Even though Daniel was surrounded by the allure of this culture, he resisted it's pull & remained true to God. He would not eat the Royal food offered to idols.

Lesser men would've crumbled under the pressure, but not Daniel. This decision to follow God was not one of convenience. It was a matter of consistency and loyalty. 

The decision to pursue God, to grow spiritual roots to walk with God in a personal way requires resolve. Not the kind of resolve that is broken by excuses or obstacles. 

And the great truth here is that it actually feels good to take a stand and do things differently. It produces courage, especially when you know that you have stood with God. And this courage then grows into an even greater resolve to follow through, overcome challenges and stay the course.

So with Daniel as our example I have a couple of questions for. Take your time and think through them, answer them and act on the resolve:

1. What actions can you take to do things differently than everybody else?

2. What are common ways that you give into the pressure of those around you? With food? With lifestyle?

For more of "small things, BIG Difference" go to FocusChurch.com to see the schedule which begins Sunday, May 18

Hearing God in your hurried pace of life

  Sometimes the hectic pace of life is deafening. The alarms sounds, the day starts and we hit the ground running. The thought of taking time to enter our day on our knees is almost uncomfortable because the list of our "to dos" is waiting...., the clock is ticking, and the schedule has begun.
We race from one activity to the next and maybe, just maybe, in this hurried state we think to ask God to bless our work, to be with us,.... to keep up.
We reason that God will understand because He knows the mountain of responsibilities that we face. But its IMPOSSIBLE to hear God in the chaos of life.
Elijah, one of God's great prophets, experienced this firsthand. He was used to hearing God in a personal way. God spoke to him in the quiet moments when he wasn't distracted.
A great and powerful wind came, but God wasn't in the wind. Then came an earthquake and fire, but God was not in there either. A gentle whisper came, and Elijah heard His voice.

 I wonder if most of the time we just plain miss His presence because we don't slow down long enough or get quiet enough to hear. In Psalm 46:10 we are told to "Be still and know that I am God."
Sometimes we expect God to be more obvious. We want Him to give us a sign. But God wants us to train our ear to hear His voice. He wants us to unplug... unplug from the email, the voicemail, the TV, whatever mobil device we bury our face into and actually APPRECIATE SILENCE.
He wants our undivided attention so He can bring real TRANSFORMATION from the inside out.
So how does that look for you? Are you running a frantic race day in and day out? Feeling worn out and exhausted? Or... do you find yourself refreshed and renewed each day in God's presence?

If you are running the frantic race, my suggestion is to start each day here, in your quiet place, and be still. If you'll listen to His voice He'll speak to your heart through His Word. Let Him probe your conscience and bring things to mind that need to be changed.
He'll encourage you to dig deeper and stay the course.
And you'll see how much easier and better each day becomes.

"There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper." 1 Kings 19:9-12

Listen to or watch the 11 part series, "The Elijah Element" at
Focus Church media page

Dealing with DOUBT: Questioning God

In the midst of living life we can ask many questions... our lives can be shaken by surrounding circumstances that greatly impact us. It can cause us to question "WHY?"
"Why is this happening to me?"

Something I've learned over the years (the hard way) is not to question why, but ask the Lord "WHAT?"
"What is it Lord I can learn from this?" What is it Lord You are wanting to get ME to open my eyes to?"
I have found that the sooner I can get WHAT You Lord are wanting me to see, the sooner I can get out of this mess that surrounds me.
So I ask, "What do I need to get out of this, so I can get out of this?"

We can turn to God's Word for answers and comfort.

How to UNCOVER God's Word: 
ASK - God to connect with you here. In prayer, start by slowing down, inviting God to be present. Begin with focus and openness to see what God has for you.

READ - the selected section of Scripture slowly. Take note of the words and phrases that intrigue you, reading them a second time if necessary.

REFLECT - on what grabs you. What connections do you see at this point in your life? How might God be speaking to you through these words? Stop long enough to let this take root and thank God for engaging you.

RESPOND - to the Scripture. Speak directly to God about what's on your mind and heart. Look for ways to live out what you've uncovered - individually and with your church. And look for ways to bring what you have discovered to others.

"Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;
heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in deep anguish.
How long, Lord, how long?
Turn, Lord, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love."  Psalm 6:2-4

You Have Unfinished Business..... so how do you Finish Strong?

Can you think of something you recently finished?

And youre happy that its done, whatever it is, maybe a project around the house, or maybe its something to do with schoolwork or heck maybe youre happy you finished the laundry, whatever it is, it's a wonderful feeling right?

You did it! It's done and you can check it off the list.... aahhhhhhh....

- Well that is exactly what we’re talking about today...

Let me give you some context before we dive into this… 

Shortly before the cross Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Bible says that He was in such agony that literally, drops of blood was coming from His brow, as He thought ahead to what He would experience on the cross. Sure enough, it was worse than any of us could ever imagine. If you know much about what would have happened, the Roman soldiers beat Him senseless, after whipping him 39 times across His back, to where very likely His internal organs would be exposed. They beat Him again and again in the face. They mocked Him, they spit on Him, the creation abusing the Creator. They took a crown of the sharpest thorns you could ever imagine. Thorns, really long pushing it down across His brow, so that blood streamed across His bruised face that barely even looked human at all. The soldiers then took long stakes and drove them through His wrists and through His ankles and suspended Him midair on a cross. As man did his worst, God was at His best. When Jesus spoke the very first words and prayed, "Father, forgive them for they don't even know what they are doing." 

We pick up the story in John 19:28, and here's what the Bible says:

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." John 19:28

Now, why did He say that? Well, it's interesting that in the Old Testament, there were all of these different prophesies about what would take place in His life and there was one that was yet to be fulfilled. That was, that they would give Him vinegar to drink. And so by faith, or maybe even with the knowledge of God, we are not sure. Jesus just said, "I am thirsty." And then, here's what they did, they fulfilled this prophecy, verse 29:

A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. John 19:29

So, they are going to give Him vinegar again to torture Him while He is thirsty on the cross, but verse 30 says something so intriguing. The Bible says:

When He had received the drink, Jesus said, (the three most amazing words that we could ever imagine) "It is finished." John 19:30

 "It is finished!" 

Imagine the moment when they finally fulfilled that very last, unfulfilled prophecy, and Jesus, maybe in a triumphant cry, or maybe in a private whisper, declared before Father God, 'It's done! We did it! It's finished! Everything that you sent me to do,Father; it's done!' Jesus said, "It is finished." The Bible goes on to say:

With that, He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit. John 19:30

He did what Father God sent Him to do. The words, "It is finished", it actually comes from one Greek word, it's the word, tetelestai (te-tel-les'-ty). this word means: To end, to complete, to execute, or to discharge a debt.

Jesus said, "tetelestai." I did it, I paid the debt, I finished it. I discharged, I did precisely what you sent me to do. This one little word has so much rich meaning. In fact, there’s 3 different ways this word can be used. Tetelestai; it can mean when a servant returns to His master and says, tetelestai, tetelestai, I finished, I have finished what you sent me to do, there is nothing left for me to be done, I did everything you asked me to do. It can be used as a merchant declares that the debt is paid in full, you owe nothing. The debt is cleared, it's totally paid. It can be used when a priest examines a lamb for the sacrifice and the priest says, "Tetelestai". It is perfect, this lamb has no blemish at all, it's perfect. Jesus said, on the cross before Father God, "Tetelestai". I did it. History has been changed. Your mission, your work Father, it is complete. 

You may say, 'Well, what did He finish?' So many things. I mean, one thing is, so many of the prophesies had been fulfilled. In fact, in the Old Testament, I will just list a few of the prophesies that were uttered literally hundreds of years before this event that were fulfilled. Amos prophesied that darkness will befall the land and it was fulfilled. Isaiah said Jesus would one day be rejected, and He was. Psalms said He would be betrayed. Isaiah also said He would be beaten, He was. Spit upon, He was. Wounded and bruised for our transgressions, He was. Psalms said He would be mocked, and He was. Zachariah said He would be forsaken by His friends, and He was. Isaiah said He would pray for His persecutors and He did, and He would be crucified by thieves and He was. Psalms said they would cast lots for His clothing and they did. It also said none of His bones broken and they weren't. It also said, He would cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And He did. It was prophesied that He would be pierced, and He was. It was also prophesied that they would give Him vinegar to drink and He said, "I am thirsty" and they did. 

"It's finished." All of those prophesies had been finished. What else was finished? Well, Satan's plan had been thwarted since the beginning of the birth of Jesus. Satan did everything he could to take Jesus off of the track to the cross, but Jesus finished it. He completed what God sent Him to do. The sacrifice was perfect. The debt had been paid in full. Sin lost its sting and power for those who are in Christ. Jesus looked up to His Father and said, "I finished what you sent me to do." The best news for all of us is that Jesus finished the work. That's the good news. 

The bad news though, even though He finished, we haven't. That's right, none of us have. If you are alive today, you have unfinished business. There is more that God wants to do in you and through you. We all have unfinished business. 

"You have unfinished business." In Revelation, Chapter 3:1-2, I want you to let this Scripture kind of sink into your spirit, and even disturb you, if you find yourself in it just a bit. Look at what Scripture says:

I know your deeds; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Rev 3:1-2

We have unfinished business. 

Approx. 30 yrs ago when I was 10,11,12 yrs old God whispered to me I would be a preacher. 

I remember that moment clearly. I remember thinking to myself and basically telling God “uh I dont think so my man, you got me confused w/ the neighbor or something.” I totally ignored it and never thought about it again. Until about 20yrs ago I was 21 and it started all over… I was still resistant -  this time though God was very persistent. He was basically telling me “its time Joe, no more putting Me off, no more delays, its time to start… now!”

So I sat Cathleen down and explained everything. 
(only married a year or so, she could've totally been like “yeah I dont think so buddy, I didnt sign up for this, I’m outta here” )

But she didnt. Because God was preparing her heart as well.

So that was it. From that moment on I was all in. I started strong. Enrolled in Seminary, completed all the studies, did all the work, I was focused and knew I had to prepare. 

I began getting involved in ministry. It started small and just slowly grew over time. More responsibilities, moved into a leadership role & eventually became a licensed pastor.

It was all going well. But somewhere about 12yrs into that journey I had a new discovery. 

I was literally going through the motions. I had lost the vision God had for me and I had become this religious guy with a great facade. This look of a young and upcoming minister. But I could see it really wasnt me, it was a bit phony. I had become what I perceived a religious leader should look like. 

But was empty inside. The reality of Revelations 3:1-2 had hit home.

I had this reputation for being alive but I was dead. I was not the Joe Parks God called me to be. 

I was the Joe Parks the church folks and other leaders thought I should be. And it was empty & false.

Wake up! Wake up Joe and become what Ive called you to, you have unfinished business.

And so the these past 15yrs or so there has been this transformation back to the 11yr old and 21yr old version of being who God called me to be. 

And everyday I strive towards the vision and dreams God planted in me to complete.

 That is my unfinished business.....

May I ask, what's yours? What is it? In fact, if we could, no matter where you are, When I say unfinished business, I want you to write down the first thing that comes into your mind. It may not be a huge area of hypocrisy like me, but maybe it's something that God has burdened you, created you to do, that you have not seen through. Maybe God's called you to adopt, or to be a foster parent, how incredible is that? And that hasn't come to pass. Maybe your unfinished business is to forgive someone. Maybe your unfinished business is to get out of debt. Maybe your unfinished business is to share the love of Christ with someone you love who is far from Him. 

In the next few moments, what I want to ask you to do, as God by His Spirit reveals His Word; I want you to let Him speak to your heart in light of what you just wrote down. Why? Because every single day that God blesses us with another opportunity to live, is another opportunity to take one step closer to the purpose that He has given you. Jesus finished well. Let's be honest, we live in a culture where people start many, many things and finish few. And so, how do we, like Christ finish well, when so few finish anything? I want to give you a couple of thoughts today, and just write these down as we just seek God. God, how can I finish strong? The first thought is this,

1.) We are going to make a commitment.

Now, I know some of you are already saying, "I've done that! I've made a commitment!" 

Have you? I think we have a skewed view of what commitment really looks like. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 8:11; 

Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 2 Corinthians 8:11

See I believe, in our culture, commitment is defined by mere eager willingness, but that isn't commitment. Like, we commit, I am going to lose weight, but friends, so often that is only an eager willingness because there is still Double-Stuf Oreos in your pantry! Too close to home, isn't it? It isn't commitment until you change and you complete what your eager willingness was about. 

In Spring of 1519, Hernando Cortez received permission from the Governor of Spain to take 11 ships, and 700 men to discover a new world. They sailed all with eager willingness, to expand the territories of Spain, and to increase the treasures that they would find in this new land. When they landed in Vera Cruz, their eager willingness waned quickly. Because what they discovered, is that there was the most savage, violent natives that they hadn't prepared for. All of a sudden the crew began to rebel. They began to talk to one another, 'I want to go home! I don't like the food! I don't like somebody chasing me trying to cut off my head! I want to go home!' Their eager willingness was gone. When Cortez got wind of the descent, he gave an order to one of his crew, a simple order; 

burn the ships. And they did. And that, that is commitment. Commitment is taking your passionate desire to do something, drawing a line in the sand, stepping across that line and there is no turning back. That is how we finish strong. When we commit with that kind of resolve. And it's exactly what we see personified by our Savior, Jesus. 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, He was battling over what He knew would happen. Scripture says that the stress and the agony was so intense that literally the capillaries in His skin were bursting under distress and He was literally sweating blood. You hear it, and you hear it, and you hear it in His words. In Luke 22:42, Scripture says:

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me..." Luke 22:42

Father, if there is any other way, please! And then, something changed. I believe this is the moment where our Savior stepped across the line and there was no turning back, and He says:

"...yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42

In that moment, it was on. If we are going to finish strong, we start with commitment, by making a commitment with great resolve. 
Burn the ships! You've got a ship, you have a ship waiting for you at the dock so whenever things get tough, whenever they get tight, a little too uncomfortable for you... you can run back and take off.
Burn the ships! Make a real commitment 

2.) We are going to take the next step. 

 We are going to take the next step. And after that, we are going to take the next step, and after that we are going to take the next step after that. Why? Because the chasm between where we live today and our present reality is so overwhelming to where we are and where we want to be... where God wants us. 
That's why most people don't finish, is they look at this huge chasm, that separates where we are from where wants to be, to the fulfillment of the vision. You say, "I can't do that!" Yeah, you can! With one step, after another step, after another step. Like Bill Murray, in what about Bob (video).

We are going to take what? Baby steps to the elevator, baby steps out of my addiction, baby steps to being a foster parent; we are going to take baby steps to the promise of what God has called us to do and who He has called us to be. That is why, in the Book of Psalm, Chapter 119:105, Scripture says:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

And it's in this place that the beauty of God's Word comes alive, because He doesn't give us enough revelation to go the whole way. We can't see that far, but I can see just enough to take one more step. 

What's your next step? What is it? You don't have to map out the whole thing. God won't let you even if you wanted to. What is your next step though? Literally, just take a second, just write it down. What is it? Is it to write the letter? Write it down. Is it to cut up the credit cards? Write it down. Is it to make the phone call? Is it to fill out your resume? Maybe your next step, is to forgive. If we are going to finish strong, we are going to commit with great resolve. We are going to take the next step. 

This time of year, this Easter season, it's so overwhelming to think about the journey that Christ went on, from the Garden of Gethsemane to the cross. From the Garden to the Cross, that timeframe.
Jesus was crucified on a hill, and it was called Golgotha, and it literally meant, the place of the skull. That place is so terrifying. People didnt go there. Golgotha was a vacation destination... "so what are you guys doing this summer? Yeah, the wife & kids and I are headed to Golgatha, just relax & I dont know maybe throw some rocks." 
No! Nobody goes there. And thats what is ahead of Jesus Christ and He takes a step...
I often imagine what the journey up that hill looked like. He was beaten within an inch of His life, barely recognizable as a human being, and then in the place, He took a step...
up that hill to carry OUR sin to HIS cross. 
And in that agony, with the crown of thorns being put on His brow, the thorns going into His skin. He took a step... with the hope that if we would say yes to a relationship with Christ, that you would become adopted as a child of God. Then, He picked up a beam that He would be hung on and He placed it on His beaten shoulder, and He took a step.....
with the hopes that those of us who are under the suffocating weight of bondage and addiction would be set free. Then He clawed His way up to the place where nails the size of railroad spikes would pierce His wrist. He took another step, last step, to say to you, "I love you." He finished well. He finished strong. 
And for those of us who still have breath in our lungs, who have not yet finished what God has purposed us to finish, let us be encouraged by the truth of God's Word, in Philippians 1:6, Scripture says:

....being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Folks, I cannot begin to tell you how many times over the last 20yrs I have clung onto this piece of scripture. It is great encouragement to me, as I believe it is or will be to you.

I have unfinished business, so do you….

God did not send you to earth to start a race, He sent you here to finish it. Commit, take the step and finish. How do you do it? When we get to the place where you know the what? Our life is not about us. This is what Paul said in Acts 20:24:

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task...."

And for Him, it was the task of testifying to the Gospel of grace. 
Finish your race. If you are still alive, God is not through with you yet. Keep in step with the Spirit, stay close to God and follow His voice. Commit and take the next step so one day, you can stand before Christ in Heaven and say, "Tetelestai, I did what you sent me to do." And he will say to you, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." 

Listen to me folks, burn the ships, take the next step & Finish the race.



Watch video of Pastor Joe Parks sharing the message "It is Finished" 

Focus Church website