“Knowing” and “Doing”

One of my most favorite quotes of all time…

“I’m educated far beyond my level of obedience.”

I don’t know who wrote it, but this statement was seared into me the moment I read it.  This statement is a different perspective of James 2:14-26.  I’ve read more books, more scripture, listened to more sermons, gone to more conferences than I have ever actually applied to real life.  I’ve realized that it’s so easy to have a “know” kind of faith but a completely different story when it comes to “doing”.  I’ve been a professed believer now for over 18 years and I’m sometimes ashamed at how little I’ve allowed God to use me over this time.  Think about it this way…if your not gonna use it, then why take the time to learn it? 

Obedience is something I understand more of these days.  The hard part is this…obedience requires action, a choice.  Obedience is probably the most difficult part of being a christian.  Obedience sometimes requires perseverance.  Obedience requires you to make choices that may not be in your best for your schedule or finances, but its a prerequisite to operating within God’s will.

Jesus, the pinnacle of obedience, is our example.  So ask yourself…

• Do I worship God like Jesus?
• Do I love others like Jesus?
• Do I serve like Jesus?
• Do I pray like Jesus?
• Do I resist temptation like Jesus?
• Am I humble like Jesus?

If you answer yes to all these, then totally disregard this post.  You must be Jesus!  If not, I encourage you to focus on obedience and think about these six questions as often as possible.  It’s sobering.  I’m afraid many of our churches and their believers are more about “knowing” and less about “doing” these days.

If you “know”, then go and “do”.

Sunday Unwind

Today was an absolute blur.  I can’t believe its almost nine o’clock and we’re about to put Jacob down for the day.  Here are just a few lines to recap the day…

• Woke up at 4:30 am to pouring rain outside.  This tends to make set up interesting considering our equipment is stored outside the YMCA.
• Hard to wake up considering the 4+ hours of paddling the Harpeth River yesterday.  Muscles were frozen.
• Strong set up crew this morning.
• Our Y employee didn’t show up on time to let us in which was a bummer and it put us behind.
• We set off their alarm to get back at them (really, we did, but not on purpose ).
• Joe and Pam on a well deserved vacation this week so the rest of us picked up their slack.  Missed you guys.
• Good crowd today despite the weather.
• Good worship today despite Nick leading.
• Message from Gary Lamb (Revolution Church, Canton, GA) this morning in Joe’s absence.  Not a bad guy to have fill in if I really have to be honest.
• Great to see friends I’ve been missing for a while now.
• Thank you to all the volunteers today.  Great job!  You make the gears turn in this church and it does not go unnoticed.
• Lunch with some top notch UC families.
• No nap this afternoon.
• We did make up for the lost sleep tonight by eating some Baskin Robbins.  This makes sense in my world so cut me some slack.

One thing I’m left with to focus on for the week is this - being a “status quo” christian is not what I was called to be.  A “status quo” church is not what God called the UC into existence to be.  We are not called to be predictable, simply going through the motions each week.  We must not be lulled into a state of laziness and comfortability and forget our purpose as a church!  We must continue to focus more on who we’re ministering on behalf of and who we’re ministering to.

That’s it from me…it’s bedtime.  Later on peeps.

Shorten the Pause

There was much to celebrate in the conclusion of the yesterday’s service.  However, I’m left with this lodged in my memory from Joe’s message…

Incredible opportunities require immediate obedience.

This statement could easily have so many different meanings to all of us.  Yesterday, it was directed mainly toward the process/decision of baptism.  However, this statement is much deeper than a single event.  If you reflect on God’s plan for you as an individual in connection with the above statement, a whole new series of doors open up.

I think about my life and relationship with Christ and what disappoints me most is the opportunities I’ve missed/passed on for reasons rooted mainly in pride, selfishness, doubt, immaturity, etc.  So when I compare myself to many shown in the bible, I’m inspired to not only strive for a constant attitude of obedience, but to also respond quickly with that attitude. 

When God calls us to do something outside of our realm of comfort, we typically pause.  That pause occurs between the time that God is finished and when you decide to commit.  The pause does not occur prior to our response, it is our response.  I think a direct correlation can be made between the length of that pause and the greatness of our faith.

So today I challenge you to strive to increase your faith in God.  Shorten the pause.  With Christ, obedience isn’t just a decision, it’s a mindset…a way of life.

Exploited Freedom

This year, like many before it, most of us will briefly reflect on our freedom as citizens of this great country.  This freedom has been the origin for opportunity and possibility divided equally among us.  There is no doubt that we are blessed.

However, I’m pretty much a loser when it comes to appreciating the above.  The word EXPLOIT comes to mind.  I pretty much exploit my freedom as a US citizen.  I take it from the system and I use it.  I don’t add as much as I take.  I have never served in the military.  I don’t always vote when the opportunity presents itself.  I don’t always get engaged in the political scene to voice my opinion.  I’m not as appreciative as I should be.  You get the picture.  To some degree, I feel like I have exploited my freedom.

In the same manner, many Christ followers do the very same thing.  We as believers take from the system that we believe in and use it, but we don’t add anything to it.  We exploit God and His system.  We hijack it and use it for our own selfish purposes whether we realize it or not.  We take our grace and our freedom and squander it on ourselves.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary says the following:

exploit (verb) - to take unfair advantage of, to control or take advantage of by artful, unfair, or insidious means

I totally buy into the idea that everyone has potential.  I totally buy into the idea that the potential I’m speaking of has a purpose.  It simply bugs me to no end to watch people waste it.  In my opinion, the church today is not living up to its potential and it has sufficiently exploited God and the system it was solely created for.  Were not reaching out enough.  Were not meeting the needs of our respective communities.  We need do something with the time we spend between sermons (10,030 minutes to be exact).  Sunday is not the only day of the week that the church is open for business.  We need to wake up and change our perspective on our freedoms and quit exploiting them.  We need to use them for God’s advantage, not our own.

No “Grumpy Old Men” Here

Warning! - Please understand when I use the term old, it’s only because your older than me…not necessarily “WOW!  You could be my granddad!” kind of old. 

I want to briefly recognize our “old guys” today.  These guys are not in wheelchairs or walkers, but when it comes to the people of our “church landscape”, I truly admire and appreciate the old guys who serve with me.  They are dedicated and passionate about serving in the ministry of the UC.  They are:

• Bill M. - Humble, caring, and one hardworking dude.
• Dale - Nothing but smiles.  This guy will cheer you up during your time with him.
• Jim T. - With gloves in hand, always prepared and willing.
• Tom - Never complains, very dependable.
• Andy D. - Ready to serve no matter what you ask of him.
• Mark D. - He’s wise and a wiseguy…always prepared with a joke.
• Charl - Armed with quick wit, he’ll keep you on your toes while you work.
• David M. - Tech problem?  Call this guy…he can fix it.  He welcomes the challenge.
• Joe - Determined.  Always pressing forward no matter what stands in the way of his goal.

To each of these men, THANK YOU!  I love you guys!  It’s an honor for me to serve you and serve with you!  You encourage me by what you do and say.

To the young guys:  We may be physically stronger in some cases, but we lack the heart that these guys have.  They are an example for us to follow, wise and hard working.

The greatest among you will be your servant.  Matthew 23:11

My Week In Review

I know my blog post frequency has been low this past week so here is a short summary of what’s been whirling around in my world…

• Great staff meeting on Monday.  Shared with the staff that God is calling me to sacrifice more and more…lots of fun discussing that one.
• Road kill incident on Tuesday morning of last week.  Baby turtle.  That’s all I have to say about that.
• Wednesday morning breakfast with my good friend Jeremy.  Always a great time.
• Looking at Honda Civic’s for further improved gas mileage and continuing to scale back our budget.
• Friday didn’t come soon enough.   A very long and extremely busy week at work.
• Note to all:  cell phones make for a pretty good makeshift flashlight.
• Habitat for Humanity on Saturday.  Fun and incredibly gratifying.
• Saturday night setup for the last time in a while.
• My Sunday morning mood - honored, humbled, and grateful to be serving God and the people of UpRising Church.
• One Prayer series continues as Perry Noble delivered our message.  Uhhh….WOW!!!
• UpRising 411 gathering last night was great.  I already see great potential in these and other people in our church right now. 
• This morning I’m still obsessed with gas mileage.  Also noticed that I spent almost zero time alone with my family this weekend.  That can’t happen again.
• Looking forward to a ”stay-cation” vacation soon.

That’s it for now.  Later peeps!

Zaxby’s Mission Statement

I had lunch at Zaxby’s a few minutes ago.  Love that place.  They print their mission statement on the receipt from your order.  It’s says the following:

Consistently create encore experiences that enrich lives one person at a time!!

This is simply from a fast food restaurant, but it begs the question,”are we striving for the same success in our churches?”  Are we trying create environments and experiences that allow God to directly influence lives?  Reading this today helps me to focus a little more on my job at the UC.  It makes me ask myself, ”what can we be doing to allow God to further enrich the lives of his people?” 

Keep your eyes open.  There’s a thought, idea, or lesson to be learned around every corner.

Weekend Review

Here we go from start to finish…

• Chuck E. Cheese was a blast on Friday night!  Thank you so much to Bill and Karen Mitchell for inviting us out to celebrate Austin’s birthday.  What a great time and I didn’t even hurt anyone else’s kid.
• Saturday morning at the park with Jacob.  This is becoming our tradition, just father and son.  Always an awesome time.  I love my son so much.
• Cut grass, worked in the yard, washed cars…not my favorite things to do.
• The annual Bellevue Picnic was booming!  We stopped in to show a little practical love and invite folks to church.  Met some nice people there.
• Saturday night set up was pretty much seamless.  We are finalizing details on the storage location this week.  Thanks to all who contribute.  More to come on this topic soon.
• Church went very well yesterday morning.  Still meeting lots of new people, connect groups are continuing to grow.  Just lots of good stuff going on right now!
• Baby Shower yesterday for Julie and Jeremy!  I’m excited for these guys as they prepare for their first child.  Plus I’m so thankful that ”shower” events are for the women.  I’ll stick to birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese.
• Ultimate Power Nap yesterday evening.

Whew!  What a weekend.

Friends

What kind of friends do you really have?

What kind of friend are you really to others?

This is the kind I want and want to be.  It’s the story of a woman, Nita Andrews, being a REAL friend.  She sacrificed her time, comfort, and energy to carry and birth her friends baby.  Could you do something like this for someone?  It’s a great story.  This is their picture.

This is reinforcement to the great discussions that took place last night at our connect group.  Developing authentic, Christ like community requires a lot of you as an individual.  It’s not so easy to be a great friend with a true friendship.  It takes genuine love, sacrifice, loyalty, selflessness, trust, and dedication to be a great friend.

God didn’t create us to be alone (Genesis 2:18).  We were designed to walk through life together and help, encourage, and lean on each other (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).  We need each other.

So are you a good friend or a great friend?  What are you willing to do for others?

One on One with God (Part 2)

So I study the bible.  Duh.  Right?  Yeah, but this about HOW I go about doing it and what works for me.  Many people have different ways of studying the bible.  There may be no wrong way of course as long as you are seeking God in it.  However I personally think some ways may be better than others…hence what I’m about to share.  I basically do these…

• Read
• Write
• Learn
• Apply

I’m not hung up on translation, but I use a New International Version study bible.

READ - I personally like to read one book at a time.  I’ll focus on a chapter or a portion of a chapter at a time sometimes reading the same verses several days in a row.  What prompts me to go from one book to the next after I’m done may be something very simple.  It may be an excerpt from a sermon.  Or it may be scripture or a story from someones blog.  It may be from a book that I’m currently reading (typically this one).

WRITE - During this process I will take notes.  (You will interpret scripture differently in a couple of years or even months.  Looking back on those notes when re-reading is sometimes enlightening and fun.  Life experience will change the way you interpret most things including scripture.)  Plus writing helps me to remember what I’ve learned.  So take notes or simply keep a journal.

LEARN - Whatever the case, I always expect to learn something when I study.  It may be something I’m already familiar with, but repetition of the Word won’t hurt anyone.  Don’t be surprised if what you study is eerily congruent with what is going on your life, a friends life, what’s being taught at church, etc.  Listen up because God is probably trying to tell you something.  If the same scripture keeps popping up through multiple, unconnected sources of your life, PAY ATTENTION!!  Trust me on this one.

APPLY - Next, there’s application.  Today in my study of  Hebrews 11:1-6, I reminded about the importance of faith.  Faith pleases God.  God commends those for their faith in Him.  So I ask myself how and where do I need to apply this, what I’ve learned?  In my life as a father, husband, as a church leader, etc.?  All of them?  In the end, does what you learn really serve a purpose if you don’t apply it?  You get the gist.

No excuses.  You and I have no excuse not to read the bible these days due to websites like www.biblegateway.com (I use it a lot) coupled with a cell phone that has web access.  It’s almost impossible not to have access to God’s word anymore.  Again, you can’t possibly be too busy.  Being too busy for God is pretty much the equivalent of demoting Him from where He should rank in your life.

Just like life itself is a marathon or a long journey, treat your study time that way.  It’s more about quality and not quantity.  You will not become Billy Graham, Perry Noble, or T.D. Jakes overnight.  Don’t expect anything close to that.  Pace yourself and learn.  It’s taken those guys years and years to get the wisdom and understanding that they have.  On top of that, leaders of that caliber are still growing, too.

This process is not rocket science.  Don’t over complicate it.  Look at studying as your opportunity, not an obligation, to connect with God.

Final side bar:  If you ‘hear’ from God a whole lot, but don’t ever crack open your bible, I have my doubts.  Sorry.  If you think you’ve ’heard’ something from God, make sure it wasn’t just the semi-spoiled cole slaw you had a couple of hours ago and read your bible just to confirm.  It’s a fail-safe.  It ain’t ever gonna change and it’s always gonna be His words. 

Next…prayer in part 3.