When you forget the purpose of your life that is a sure way to kill your passion for life and for God. If you don’t know the purpose for life, why bother? Why get up in the morning? Why put forth the effort? Why get out of bed? Life without purpose is activity without direction. It’s motion without meaning. Life without purpose is trivial, petty, and pointless.
Passion and purpose go together. When you have a clear purpose it’s going to give you a lot of passion. But it’s got to be God’s purposes for your life. If you’re only living for yourself, that’s a pretty dinky purpose. That isn’t going to make you very passionate. In fact it’s pathetic. "I’m living for me." That’ll give you a lot of energy to get out of bed in the morning! You need a cause greater than yourself. That gives life significance and gives life meaning. The more you understand God’s purposes for your life and the more you live those purposes the more passionate you’re going to be.
Hobbs wrote this about passion. He said, "Passion is waking up in the morning wherever you are and bounding out of bed because you know there’s something out there that you love to do, that you believe in, that God made you for and you’re good at, something that’s bigger than you are and you can hardly wait to get at it again. It’s something that you’d rather be doing than anything else and you wouldn’t give it up for money because it means more to you than money."
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
The benefits living on purpose:
It cuts down on frustration, you know that feeling of not knowing exactly what you are doing or why you are doing what it is that you are doing.
It increases motivation, as in you are far more motivated when you can see results. You can only see results when you understand what you are doing and why.
It allows you to concentrate. Try to find someone who doesn't have purpose or drive in their life and watch them for a bit. They can't concentrate their energies because they don't know what they are doing. They don't know why they are doing anything and their energies go all over the place like crazy.
So understand you were put here to glorify and worship God. You cannot do that if you are busy worshipping money, time, relationships or jobs you just can't. You can't because each of those will run into each other because they are equals, you someone and something much larger than all that. You need God, God can overcome all those things and put you on the right path for sure.
You are GOd's masterpiece, created to do great things. Are you spending time daily finding out what those great things are that He created you to do?
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
FInding contentment
Since the creation of man, there has always been someone that is unhappy or discontent with something in life. There are always people who want to be different than they are:
If we’re young, we want to be older. If we’re old, we wish we were younger.
If it’s old, we want something new. If it’s new, we want something newer.
If it’s small, we want something bigger. If it’s big, we want something really big.
If we have a hundred dollars, we want two hundred. If we have two hundred, we want five hundred.
If we have an apartment, we want a condo. If we have a condo, we want a house. If we have a house, we want a bigger house. Or a new house. Or a nicer house. Or maybe we want to scale down and live in an apartment again.
If we have a job, we dream of a better job, a bigger job, a closer job, with a bigger office, a better boss, better benefits, more challenge, bigger opportunity, nicer people to work for, and more vacation time.
If we’re single, we dream of being married. If we’re married, …well you get the picture.
So how do we find contentment in this crazy world? By realizing that you are exactly where God wants you to be and there is a whole lot of work to be done.
inside of 7 verses in 1 Corinthians 7 there is a pattern repeated by Paul.
“Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him” (v. 17).
“Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him” (v. 20).
“Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to” (v. 24).
There you have it, God called you and placed you carefully right where you are and there is no reason to want to be anywhere else. I can honestly tell you right now, I don't want to be exactly where I am. I want to be full time at the church, working for God 24-7(which I do just not the way I want to) and waking up every day just to do ministry and nothing else. But, the reality is I am where I am by God's appointing and I need to see each day as an opportunity to fulfill what God's plan is for me right here and right now.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
If we’re young, we want to be older. If we’re old, we wish we were younger.
If it’s old, we want something new. If it’s new, we want something newer.
If it’s small, we want something bigger. If it’s big, we want something really big.
If we have a hundred dollars, we want two hundred. If we have two hundred, we want five hundred.
If we have an apartment, we want a condo. If we have a condo, we want a house. If we have a house, we want a bigger house. Or a new house. Or a nicer house. Or maybe we want to scale down and live in an apartment again.
If we have a job, we dream of a better job, a bigger job, a closer job, with a bigger office, a better boss, better benefits, more challenge, bigger opportunity, nicer people to work for, and more vacation time.
If we’re single, we dream of being married. If we’re married, …well you get the picture.
So how do we find contentment in this crazy world? By realizing that you are exactly where God wants you to be and there is a whole lot of work to be done.
inside of 7 verses in 1 Corinthians 7 there is a pattern repeated by Paul.
“Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God has called him” (v. 17).
“Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him” (v. 20).
“Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to” (v. 24).
There you have it, God called you and placed you carefully right where you are and there is no reason to want to be anywhere else. I can honestly tell you right now, I don't want to be exactly where I am. I want to be full time at the church, working for God 24-7(which I do just not the way I want to) and waking up every day just to do ministry and nothing else. But, the reality is I am where I am by God's appointing and I need to see each day as an opportunity to fulfill what God's plan is for me right here and right now.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Monday, July 12, 2010
My thoughts on purity
I would like you to think of pearls, those beautiful nature made beads that line necklaces of the rich and famous. Those necklaces that are a welcome addition to a fancy evening gown or dress. They are beautiful, but only if they are allowed to mature. You see the pearl is made in the belly of an oyster.
An irritant enters the mollusk either when it is open or sometimes it actually burrows through the shell from the outside. As the irritant enters the mollusk, in order for it to be the cause of a new pearl, it must pick up some of the mollusk's mantle tissue on the way into the inside of the mollusk. It's the mantle tissue that forms a pearl sac over the irritant and begins secreting the calcium carbonate base called nacre.
There you have it, there is no way for man to manufacture pearls. Thomas Eddison once wrote that there were 2 things he could not make that nature can. Diamonds and pearls, and I am sorry to inform him that diamonds are now synthetically created in some places but pearls are still a thing of mystery.
The pearl builds and builds until it is complete. If it is taken too soon, the pearl will not be as beautiful and not nearly as durable meaning that it will be seemingly just a puddle of calcium build up and worthlessness. If it is taken out and dropped it will be eaten by swine. THose are two endings that were not intended for the pearl.
Sex is the same for God. He created it to be a beautiful thing between a man and woman inside the confines of marriage. It is a beautiful thing if it is left to mature and be used by a married couple, it is a seemingly dirty thing when taken and used before marriage our outside of marriage as a form of pleasure.
You see God intended each of these for beauty, but when corrupted by man neither one reaches GOd's potential for them.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
An irritant enters the mollusk either when it is open or sometimes it actually burrows through the shell from the outside. As the irritant enters the mollusk, in order for it to be the cause of a new pearl, it must pick up some of the mollusk's mantle tissue on the way into the inside of the mollusk. It's the mantle tissue that forms a pearl sac over the irritant and begins secreting the calcium carbonate base called nacre.
There you have it, there is no way for man to manufacture pearls. Thomas Eddison once wrote that there were 2 things he could not make that nature can. Diamonds and pearls, and I am sorry to inform him that diamonds are now synthetically created in some places but pearls are still a thing of mystery.
The pearl builds and builds until it is complete. If it is taken too soon, the pearl will not be as beautiful and not nearly as durable meaning that it will be seemingly just a puddle of calcium build up and worthlessness. If it is taken out and dropped it will be eaten by swine. THose are two endings that were not intended for the pearl.
Sex is the same for God. He created it to be a beautiful thing between a man and woman inside the confines of marriage. It is a beautiful thing if it is left to mature and be used by a married couple, it is a seemingly dirty thing when taken and used before marriage our outside of marriage as a form of pleasure.
You see God intended each of these for beauty, but when corrupted by man neither one reaches GOd's potential for them.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Thursday, July 08, 2010
The real deal
I can confess to you that the most frustrating thing about attempting to grow a church has been attempting to find a few leaders that are the real deal. A group of people who are devoted to the church, love the church and want to see it grow and flourish. It's tough and very frustrating, I have been prepared by the number of youth helpers I have attempted and the number that I have actually had. I have seen potential in hundreds of teens but looking back less than 20 or 25 thru the years have actually been great leaders. It's up to God to hand pick them, not me. It's also up to God to help the church flourish and grow, not me.
There is so much involved in putting together church leadership and getting things headed in the right direction, but there's a story from Chuck Swindoll's book "Living above the level of mediocrity" that drives home what every Pastor is looking for when embarking on this endeavor.
He tells about a church in the Soviet Union a few years ago that was forced to meet secretly because the holding of house church services was illegal.
They tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as they gathered on Sunday to worship the Lord, so they came at different times & casually walked into the house until they had all arrived. Then they would close the doors, pull the curtains, & quietly worship the Lord.
But one Sunday, right in the midst of their worship service, two soldiers broke into the room, & at gunpoint lined the Christians up against the wall. One shouted, "If you wish to renounce your faith in Jesus Christ, leave now!"
Two or three quickly left, then another, & then two more. Again the soldier spoke, "This is your last chance. Either leave now & renounce your faith in Christ, or stay & suffer the consequences." Another left, & then another, almost hiding their faces in shame as they went out. But the rest stood their ground, children standing beside their parents, trembling, some even crying as their parents stood with their hands in the air, fully expecting to be gunned down or imprisoned.
After all had left who chose to flee, the other soldier closed the doors, looked back at those who stood against the wall & said, "Keep your hands up - but this time in praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. We, too, are Christians."
The two soldiers explained that some time earlier they had been sent to another house church to arrest the Christians there. But in the process, they had heard the gospel & had accepted Jesus as their Lord & Savior, too. But they explained, "We have learned that unless people are willing to die for their faith, they cannot be fully trusted."
So pastors aren't necessarily looking for people that will die for their church, but people who would die for their faith. People who put their faith first, and their church not far behind, who are willing to sweat and struggle a little to see a community reached for Christ.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend!
There is so much involved in putting together church leadership and getting things headed in the right direction, but there's a story from Chuck Swindoll's book "Living above the level of mediocrity" that drives home what every Pastor is looking for when embarking on this endeavor.
He tells about a church in the Soviet Union a few years ago that was forced to meet secretly because the holding of house church services was illegal.
They tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as they gathered on Sunday to worship the Lord, so they came at different times & casually walked into the house until they had all arrived. Then they would close the doors, pull the curtains, & quietly worship the Lord.
But one Sunday, right in the midst of their worship service, two soldiers broke into the room, & at gunpoint lined the Christians up against the wall. One shouted, "If you wish to renounce your faith in Jesus Christ, leave now!"
Two or three quickly left, then another, & then two more. Again the soldier spoke, "This is your last chance. Either leave now & renounce your faith in Christ, or stay & suffer the consequences." Another left, & then another, almost hiding their faces in shame as they went out. But the rest stood their ground, children standing beside their parents, trembling, some even crying as their parents stood with their hands in the air, fully expecting to be gunned down or imprisoned.
After all had left who chose to flee, the other soldier closed the doors, looked back at those who stood against the wall & said, "Keep your hands up - but this time in praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. We, too, are Christians."
The two soldiers explained that some time earlier they had been sent to another house church to arrest the Christians there. But in the process, they had heard the gospel & had accepted Jesus as their Lord & Savior, too. But they explained, "We have learned that unless people are willing to die for their faith, they cannot be fully trusted."
So pastors aren't necessarily looking for people that will die for their church, but people who would die for their faith. People who put their faith first, and their church not far behind, who are willing to sweat and struggle a little to see a community reached for Christ.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome weekend!
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Independence
Our independence in America and our independence as Christians are pretty much the same thing if you think about it deeply enough. As Americans we are enjoying freedoms and rights that we did not earn, sure there are people today who are helping to ensure we keep those freedoms but very few are alive who have truly fought for them. Our freedoms have come from a long, long time ago a group of men and women called soldiers gave their lives willingly so that we could enjoy such freedoms. Christianity is the same, not one single person to ever walk this earth other than JEsus Christ has done anything to earn us the freedoms and eternal life that we receive as believers. Not one of us will ever do anything that even remotely resembles someone who can earn or deserve such things as what God pours out on His children.
Think of it this way, I remember a time when I had to go downtown regularly to drop off things for my boss. I would drive downtown and look for a parking space, and beleiver it or not usually there were a few close to my destination. But, those parking spaces weren't quite what I was looking for, so I would drive around the blocks a few times. What was I looking for? That one meter that was sitting there with time left on it, a space that someone had vacated before their money ran out. I would park, run into the building dropping off what I needed to and run back outside to the car trying to make sure I didn't put one penny of my own money in that meter. It was a great feeling knowing I hadn't wasted my money on that trip, so I would in a sense be parking on someone else's quarters. That's what citizenship in America is, we are parking on someone else's hard earned expenditures. More importantly that is exactly what Christianity is, we are parking on God's quarters. God sent His ownly Son to die on a cross for our sins and for our eternal life and nothing we do or say can add to that or ever take the place of that.
I got excited when I was able to park on someone else's quarters, I should daily be 100 times as excited about the cahnce to one day park in Heaven with Jesus Christ on God's quarters!
Thanks for reading and have an awesome Hump Day!
Think of it this way, I remember a time when I had to go downtown regularly to drop off things for my boss. I would drive downtown and look for a parking space, and beleiver it or not usually there were a few close to my destination. But, those parking spaces weren't quite what I was looking for, so I would drive around the blocks a few times. What was I looking for? That one meter that was sitting there with time left on it, a space that someone had vacated before their money ran out. I would park, run into the building dropping off what I needed to and run back outside to the car trying to make sure I didn't put one penny of my own money in that meter. It was a great feeling knowing I hadn't wasted my money on that trip, so I would in a sense be parking on someone else's quarters. That's what citizenship in America is, we are parking on someone else's hard earned expenditures. More importantly that is exactly what Christianity is, we are parking on God's quarters. God sent His ownly Son to die on a cross for our sins and for our eternal life and nothing we do or say can add to that or ever take the place of that.
I got excited when I was able to park on someone else's quarters, I should daily be 100 times as excited about the cahnce to one day park in Heaven with Jesus Christ on God's quarters!
Thanks for reading and have an awesome Hump Day!
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
what makes America so great?
I am a proud American but in my sermon on Sunday in my particular case I have to say it's more of a grateful thing. I am grateful that I was born, adopted, and raised in the United States of America. You see I never fought in any war, I never had to leave my family behind to go guard the borders of any part of our country, I have never been to boot camp or basic training. So I can honestly say I am truly indebted and grateful to those who have and to those who are continueing to do that.
more than 100 years ago, Alexis de Toqueville, a famous French political philosopher, visited our nation to uncover the secret of our greatness. He traveled from town to town, talking with people, asking questions, examining every facet of our society.
Returning to France, he wrote these amazing words, "I sought for America’s greatness. I found it not in her fields & forests. I found it not in her mines & factories. I found it not in her Congress & great tribunals."
"It was only when I entered her churches & heard her pulpits thundering against sin & preaching righteousness that I discovered the secret of her greatness." Then he added, "America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
The soul of America is God. O beware, America, lest we lose our soul!
Proverbs 4:3 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
America, if we put our trust in education, we’ll get what education can give us. If we put our trust in money, we’ll get what money can give us. If we put our trust in government, we’ll get what government can give us. But if we put our trust in God, we’ll have everything we need, for all eternity.
It's sad that a Frenchman came to America and realized what very few Americans realize today, that so long as it is God that we trust in, America will be great. The days are here for some, and approaching for us as a society that God is pushed way back in our hearts and minds to the point that America will no longer be great, or even good, we will be just as crooked as the contries that we have grown to despise.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
more than 100 years ago, Alexis de Toqueville, a famous French political philosopher, visited our nation to uncover the secret of our greatness. He traveled from town to town, talking with people, asking questions, examining every facet of our society.
Returning to France, he wrote these amazing words, "I sought for America’s greatness. I found it not in her fields & forests. I found it not in her mines & factories. I found it not in her Congress & great tribunals."
"It was only when I entered her churches & heard her pulpits thundering against sin & preaching righteousness that I discovered the secret of her greatness." Then he added, "America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
The soul of America is God. O beware, America, lest we lose our soul!
Proverbs 4:3 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
America, if we put our trust in education, we’ll get what education can give us. If we put our trust in money, we’ll get what money can give us. If we put our trust in government, we’ll get what government can give us. But if we put our trust in God, we’ll have everything we need, for all eternity.
It's sad that a Frenchman came to America and realized what very few Americans realize today, that so long as it is God that we trust in, America will be great. The days are here for some, and approaching for us as a society that God is pushed way back in our hearts and minds to the point that America will no longer be great, or even good, we will be just as crooked as the contries that we have grown to despise.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Thursday, July 01, 2010
My apologies
I am having to rework my schedule right now as things are a little busier this summer. I will begin updating my blog daily next week probably in the late evenings so that I don't neglect it in the morning. I now work earlier in the day and I am transporting all of the kids and women in shelter to their morning activities, jobs and daycares. That leaves me just enough time to work on my sermon and then start driving, so my apologies and have a great forth of July!
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