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Your Turn

September 19, 2011 in Following Christ with 3 Comments

Yesterday, as I was preaching on Romans 12:2 and Ephesians 4:22-24, I kept being hit with this simple reminder. God will do His part. We must FIRST do our part.

In reading through Romans 12, Paul says that we don’t have to allow our minds to be inundated with garbage. He says that our minds can be transformed, but we have a part to play. We are responsible for the continual renewing of our minds.

How many times have you done something completely wrong, and asked God to just fix it for you? I know I have. Too many times to count.

God is ready, willing, and able to do his part – AFTER WE DO OURS.

This simple principle applies to every area of our lives:

  • God please bless my marriage – How about you love, honor and respect your spouse FIRST – even when you don’t feel like it.
  • God please help me to stop worrying - Focus on something (namely, Someone) bigger than your problems – FIRST.
  • God please bless my health – Take care of your body and exercise FIRST.
  • God please bless my finances - Honor God by trusting Him with your money through giving FIRST.
We do our part. God does His.
It’s your turn.

We follow. Jesus equips.

September 1, 2011 in Following Christ with 2 Comments

I started New Thru 60 (#NT60) today. I hope you’ll join us!

One thing that really jumped off the pages (actually the iPad) today was this simple principle. We follow. Jesus Equips.

Look at Matthew 1. It’s easy to skip right over it. It’s a genealogy. If you’re not careful, you’ll mindlessly skip over something significant. The people listed in Jesus’ lineage aren’t perfect. There are adulterers, murderers, a hooker, cheaters, liars, and other in there. Also, the genealogy lists women. In the first century Jewish world this was written in, NO ONE mentioned women. They were after thoughts. They were treated as less than human. Yet, the Bible specifically mentions them.

Why is this?

Then, skip down to Matthew 4. Jesus begins His public ministry by calling the guys to be His disciples. Look at who He chose. Tax collectors. Fishermen. These are guys who were Middle School dropouts.

The simple idea here is this. You don’t have to be perfect to follow Jesus. He wants to use you.

I can’t tell you how many people have told me that they’d never be “good enough” to serve God. Good news – YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE. Just follow Him with your whole heart and allow Him to equip and shape you into the person He has called you to become.

We simply follow. He equips.

#NT60

472,686 = 1

January 10, 2011 in Access Church, Following Christ with 1 Comment

Yesterday was a special day. I’m still hearing stories from people who feel the weight of 472,686.

If you missed it, there are 472,686 people in our backyard (the Lakeland metro area), who don’t attend church. That is 472,686 moms, dads, brothers, sisters, friends, neighbors, cashiers, roommates, students, teachers, coaches, nurses, and more.

Here’s the big question I’ve heard – WHERE DO I START???

It’s simple. With one.

I’m sure there are people in your life, who are not there by accident, who desperately need to come into a life-changing relationship with Jesus.

Have the courage to invite them to church this Sunday. Let’s leverage any influence we can to reach people. It starts with one.

Here are a few other ideas:

  • Use Facebook and Twitter this week to help us! Jared Anderson will be leading worship this Sunday. This is a GREAT weekend to invite friends.
  • If you have married or engaged friends (or know single people who plan to get married someday!), invite them to our upcoming series “Love, Marriage, Baby Carriage” starting Sunday, January 23.
  • If you go out to eat this week, strike up a conversation with your server, genuinely listen to their story, then invite them to church. THEN, leave a VERY GENEROUS tip.
  • If your kids are in a sports league, use this time to really get to know the parents. Access has an AMAZING program for kids. Invite them to check it out.
  • Find a way to do something helpful for your neighbor. It could be as simple as helping take Christmas lights down, rake leaves, remove branches, or just do something nice like baking them some cookies. Just do something to show love.
  • Invite a co-worker to lunch this week… AND BUY THEIR MEAL. Just take the time to get to know them. You’ll be surprised how much people will share, if you’ll just listen.
  • Who is in your family that doesn’t know Jesus? Sit them down and have a loving, serious conversation with them. This is a huge deal.
  • Host a game night. Invite your friends over.

Here’s the key – this isn’t a bait & switch. If you genuinely care about the people you’re inviting, they’ll be able to tell.

Let’s do this Access.

God is Our Provider

December 13, 2010 in Following Christ, Personal with 0 Comments

This is a repost from several months ago. I woke up needing to re-read these words, and to remember God’s faithfulness to me. Everytime I talk about something, I deal with it that week. I’ve been speaking about rest and stress – two things I definitely struggle with.

I hope this will mean as much to you as it did to me today!

–

God has always taken care of me. Sometimes I wish I understood His schedule and timing, yet He always provides.

Jehovah Jireh is a simple Hebrew translation that means God is our provider. Hebrew words are nimble and can be translated different ways (Hebrew has roughly 80,000 words, while English has upwards of 1,000,000). Another way to translate Jehovah Jireh is “God sees.” 

God is aware of everything you’re going through. He knows your needs.

To be completely honest, I’ve stressed more (and lost a few hours of sleep!) lately about God’s provision than normal. I wish I were “super-pastor” and had God completely figured out, but there are times when I, too, have more questions than answers. 

The story of our church has simply been, “God provides.” It’s often is the most random ways from the most random places. God provides. 

I can’t imagine the faith of a man like Abraham. It’s easy to read the Bible and to remove ourselves from the story. This is a real guy, with real emotions, and God asks him for a HUGE sacrifice. Somehow, Abraham understood something that we all at times struggle with. God provides.

Where in your life must you recognize that God will provide? What issue do you think God doesn’t see? 

Lessons from Dad

November 24, 2010 in Following Christ, Personal with 1 Comment


Joey doing his thing – Breakfast!

Having children has taught me so much about the character and nature of God. There is just something about their dependence on me, my unconditional love for them and the simple ways they bring me such joy that helps me, in some small way, understand how God must feel towards me.

Here’s an example from this morning.

My 3-year-old son, Joey, is addicted to food. Seriously. If you ask him what he did at preschool, he tells you what snack he ate. If you ask him what he did when he visited his grandparents, he tells you what he ate. It’s really cute, actually.

This morning, Joey woke up, and like EVERY MORNING, was asking for breakfast at 6:45am. He asks, and asks, and asks, and asks. When I tell him that I’ll get it for him in a few minutes, he usually lets a few seconds go by, then starts asking again!

This morning, I sat him down and had a good father/son chat with him!

I said, Joey, do I give you breakfast every day? – Yes

Have I always given you lunch and dinner? – Yes

Do I always make sure you have food to eat? – Yes

Then stop worrying about it. I’ll ALWAYS provide it for you.

Maybe your conversation with God would sound similar to this:

Have I always provided for you? – Yes

Have I always met your needs? – Yes

Do you know how much I love you? – Yes

Then stop worrying. I’ve got you.

Maybe this is why Jesus spends so much time talking about anxiety. If God cares to provide for the birds of the air, or the lilies of the fields, how much more will He provide for His prized creation – YOU.

Thoughts on the Elections…

November 2, 2010 in Following Christ with 0 Comments

Election days always feel strange to me. On one hand, I LOVE that we live in a free nation. Voting is such a privilege. If you don’t believe that, I challenge you to visit a country where there is no freedom. Your whole perspective will change. We are blessed.

On the other hand, I’m always SO relieved when the elections are over. I’m sick of the negative commercials, the mailers (we got 7 in one day last week!), the signs all over the place, and the automated phone calls (got 3 yesterday!).

I’d love to see someone run a campaign based on what they believe – NOT ONLY WHAT THEY’RE AGAINST! Every campaign seems to follow the same pattern: backstabbing, negativity, and manipulation. Why can’t we just vote on a candidate based on what they stand for?

As a follower of Christ, are you known more for what you believe – or simply known as someone who rails against all the things you’re against? A couple years ago, I read a book called Un-Christian. In it, the authors claim that most non-Christians under the age of 30 believe Christians are judgmental, antihomosexual, hypocritical, too political and sheltered. Why are these the first things that come to mind when the word “Christian” is used?

I want to live a life that simply radiates God’s love. I want to live a life known for what I believe… not just the things I’m against.

At All Costs…

October 14, 2010 in Access Church, Following Christ with 0 Comments

One of the interesting subplots to the Chilean Miner Rescue is how the Chilean government spared no expense (see image below) in rescuing these trapped miners. They were trapped since August 5. Can you even imagine?

The whole country (and world!) prayed, worked hard, and sacrificed to celebrate the safe arrival of these 33 men.

As the church, we are called to the same. Reach the world… at all costs. Reach your neighbor… at all costs. Live a life that actually invites people into relationship with Christ… at all costs.

So, what are you willing to give? What will you sacrifice?