The Truth regarding Short-Term Missions...

Tue, 8 May 2012 23:11:03 -0500

This is an undeniably fruitful read for anyone considering short term missions. It is a short read packed full of wisdom, insights, helps, perspectives, and examples that can keep one from falling into the Short Term Mission pitfall. The author agrees (as do I) in the Short-term mission philosophy but only wants to help it thrive!

Reality Snapshot of Mission Teams.pdf

Are you a Christian?

Fri, 4 May 2012 11:26:25 -0500

Are you a Christian.pdf- is a tool I have been using with a group of young believers to help them clarify if and/or when someone may have come into a saving relationship with Jesus and teaches them how to communicate it in relevance and biblical faithfulness.

What is a Man ~ NWC chapel message

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 09:43:31 -0500

Spoke at NWC chapel last month and was spurred on by their attention to men’s and women’s issues. They divided up men and women and charged me to speak to the men. Below are my notes and the audio is included What is a man and what should I expect from him_.mp3. Is is build off of 1 Timothy 6:11-12 and focuses upon how men are called to FLEE some things, PURSUE some things. FIGHT some things, and TAKE HOLD of ONE thing!

Topic – NWC chapel
Thesis – Masculinity: What’s a man and what should you expect from Him.
Text – 1 Timothy 6:11-12

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

I. What I hope to accomplish?
a. I want you to know what a Man is... I want you to know Masculinity in three direction too: Finger Points UP (before God) , IN (before yourself), OUT (in front of others).
b. And what you should expect from him…It is not enough for you to just Desire this for yourself, but you must Demand it from one another. (It is not up to the ladies to fix us…she called me out, she set me straight) If men are made up of last Wednesdays…

c. This is one of the main reasons why things aren’t how they ought to be b/c men are the problem. If the women are the only ones who know what a man is NOT and is willing to do something about it then things will change very slowly. B/C Men are the change-agents: cultures, churches, campuses, politics, families, relationships, marriages. When you ask why any of these institutions have not changed its because the men have not changed. The most unreached people group on the planet is the MALE. He must be Reached!

II. Who am I speaking to?
a. Bible is speaking to a “man of God” and so am I (experiencing Jesus in a trusting and treasuring/ depending and delighting experience, not exercise). You don’t play Christianity but you live it, live by it, and live for it!
i. If you have not come before Jesus as a repentant sinner, then you must. Or else all you will every have is recurring sin suffocating Masculinity from your spiritual lungs. “no manhood outside of the God-man Jesus Christ” – we are helplessly lost as men because we have lost contact to the God-man! He is restoring the masculine image of God! Get close to Him and you will be Manly (for without him all you can be is wordly).
1. For how else will you know sacrifice, and not selfishness; heroism and not cowardice; honesty and not manipulation; love and not lust; OR how else will you know Endurance when you only know collapse!

ii. Now, I want you to be prepared to get bruised, but not broken. You may be bruised over the fact that I want to talk about what God has created and called a man to be and not necessarily what you have Become! Tiny truth in everything…
1. I want to talk with you firmly and confidently and manly but realize that our tendency is to dip into condemnation, guilt, shame… let us not forget we are hopelessly lost sinful men in need of an abundant Man: Jesus Christ!
2. A resonating Gospel reminder: God speaks to you as he speaks to his Son: Masculine Gospel (Mark 1:11) – nothing changes this fact!! Nothing!!

III. 4 Actions of a Man
a. Take Hold – don’t let go of his pride in YOU! He is so pleased with you!!
b. Flee – to be a man is to Run!! There are things you don’t even touch or face, you just retreat! You don’t go near them. Flee Sexual Immorality – Run like Joseph.
c. Pursue – you go after with reckless abandon. You will stop at nothing to have them. Jesus set his face like flint and walked toward Jerusalem. (you would pursue hard and uncomfortable things)
d. Fight – You are not necessarily pursing and you cannot flee - BUT the state of being in this world, but just not of it! These are things you need to confront!
i. Application – implement a specific action you need to take this week! Talk w/ Men

IV. 5 Potential Pitfalls (shotgun spray)
a. Leadership – some of you are so caught up in leading teams, clubs, bible studies, relationships, study groups, praise and worship…and you can’t even lead yourself. You are so caught up in leading others, that you forget about yourself – SELF LEADERSHIP. “Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others, by what he does from day to day to lead himself.”
i. Examples of poor self-leadership
1. in a relationship addicted to porn/masturbating
2. leading a bible study but don’t spend time alone with God yourself
3. you give counsel and yet you make very sub par decisions
a. HUMBLY, who do you think you are? (some of you…authority)
b. Spend more time w/ you & you will bless, less time & you break them
ii. I want you to initiate towards life, Not just Respond to it.
iii. Is life leading you or are you leading life (Baseball metaphor: catcher or Pitcher?)
1. Quit leading yourself into a high Xbox score, but a high class grade
2. Quit leading yourself into who can sleep and waste, but who is useful
3. Quit leading yourself into who can consume the most social media…
iv. If women were here: I would say don’t be a missionary dater and reinforce his immaturities by laughing and saying its cute. PLEAD: lead yourself well!

b. Ladies – Does your life revolve around getting the attention of the ladies? Do you use them to get noticed, to get a laugh, to gratify yourself in front of a computer? Do you serve them OR do they serve you?
i. Are you in a relationship? Are you leading it or is it leading you? Where is it going? Are you setting the pace, timeline, who knows about it? Emotional Boundaries? 2 year Rule? Is she a marriage candidate? – if not what you are doing? Are you setting precedents of trust with her now, so she can trust you later? (travel
ii. You are not a guy who just gets along better with girls? (Jim story) The relationships which will mimic your marriage relationship is the one you will have with men, not women. Because your wife will know you fully, and that is how men know you. NEWSFLASH: My closer relationships with girls ended upon marriage. Let’s just get this straight : If you find a guy always hangin’ out with girls: A large part of the time he is scared, needs a ego boost, or he likes her!
iii. Are you always in relationship? You need to flee this. You need Jesus and singleness and male relationships. Tell you that you “like” her excuse your flirtyness or faithlessness? Don’t tell her your feelings until your ready for commitment.
iv. Are you really fighting? - Have you ended the relationship; fasted; confessed.

c. Labor –Are you in relationships solely for a benefit of another? You were made to now be about others not just yourself. If you time spent on you? 2 Cor. 5:14-15. “The gospel frees us from self, to God, for others.” I want you to be delivered from you and your hall of mirrors that make your life a YOU obsession. Matthew 4:19 is you!
i. Do you make cliques or destroy them? (include or exclude?)
ii. Do you believe everyone here is okay and knows Jesus!

Transfiguring our Minds: Mark 9:1-8

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 11:42:18 -0500

Are you in the Will of God? Its not really an option...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:11:46 -0500

We spoke to the topic of “Are you in the Will of God?” last week at our ministry meeting. In summary, we spoke to the three categories of God’s will and then defined the 3 major wills God has for his people. The audio and the notes are below:

Will-of-God.mp3

Topic – Joint COW “the Will of God is not an option”
Text – 1 Thessalonians 4:3 “This is the will of God, your sanctification”
Thesis – Growth is natural, but not apart from necessary means

I. Introduction – What are the Types of Wills and Why talk about them…
a. What is the Will of God? (understand it in threes)

i. Will of Decree – Whatever happens (in a sense) – GLOBAL LEVEL
1. No one not even you can thwart his will (Psalm 115:3)
2. Your life is the will of God!
ii. Will of Desire –What he wants in the world on a morale level – HEART LEVEL
iii. Will of Direction – How he specifically carries this out in your life – YOU LEVEL.
1. I want to focus on the last 2 (How HE directs you & what he wants) but realizing…2 lens’ about God’s will of Decree: be influenced by both, but want at certain times for one to influence you the greatest
a. Authority (in this will) (looking forward) –He rules and you follow – His authority, not yours (provides, protects, not prevents you from things that are good). This is proactive
i. Do you have a submitted posture? (Sent his Son to die!)
ii. Throne of your heart diagram…Psalm 39:4 – cover-up
iii. And you chalk your life up to the decreed will of God, yet you know its not his will of Desire – b/c God will a lot of things he does not necessarily like!
iv. Are you in a position to tell others what the will of God is or do you need to be told what the will of God is?
b. Assurance lens (in this will) – You are not going to tragically miss out on something! This is reactive!
i. Do you have a trusting posture?
ii. You will not make a wrong decision – you have not
iii. He will complete his work – Philippians 1:6
iv. Righteous uses this, and an unrighteous person abuses this to justify their way of life OR self-fule?
2. We will talk later about how God’s will of directions works itself out.

b. Why talk about the Will of God?
i. The Will of God is not optional, though we treat it like that.
1. Superior-minded, arrogant, self-deified, prideful, self-autonomous generation
2. One-ism vs. Two-ism (Romans 1)
3. You are not God!

ii. The will of God is not just a sin of commission, not a sin of omission
1. Not just what you do, but what you don’t do.
a. Lack of Going, Giving, Loving, Honoring, Serving, Forgiving…
b. The Bible mainly directs not by prohibition , but by empowerment!
2. We live a life of missed opportunities and he wants you to have so much more. When you get to heaven…What was I NOT doing?

II. DESIRE: What is the Will of God for you?
a. Mature and Make, Grow and Go, Know and make known
b. These are God’s will for your life. NOT MONEY, NOT MARRIAGE, NOT COMFORT
c. This is His summary:
i. Mature
1. Tree Analogy (Fruit) – Living things GROW and SHOW that they are alive OR they are not alive. (Child development example)
2. Living things grow naturally, but not without certain ingredients:
a. Word of God (Identity)
b. People of God (Community) b/c we are Chameleons
c. Mission of God (Sharing the gospel)
i. ICM Diagram (in the center?)
ii. 3 separate circles – (Just focusing on one?)
ii. Make
1. Matthew 4:19 – this is just what happens.
2. Jesus’ last words – Matthew 28:18-20 – CO equips students to do this

III. DIRECTION: How does God’s will direct us?
a. Counsel – who is the main spirit-appointed speaker in your life?
b. Conviction of needs and sins
c. Word and Prayer

IV. APPLICATIONS
a. Accept a Challenge
b. Make a Commitment
c. Confess some sin
d. Connect with others

V. REBUTTALS
a. Why is your default answer NO? Is it I can’t? or I won’t?
b. Why not the BEST and not just good or better? Yes, growth can happen anywhere, but this is not how you treat sports, food, and education.
c. Why not with others? What are you scared of…exposed and self would have to die…accountability would happen
d. Why not in discomfort or inconvenience? It usually involves the removing of idols
e. Why not in you, but just through you? Look at you! If you wanna be relevant and strategic then…ask God to work on you. Its a lot easier to be distracted from you when you are too busy thinking about others all the time. Don’t miss a you summer.
f. Cultural Christianity is a CULT!