Well, there is one member of our family at First Christian Church that getting a gift for is not that difficult.  In fact this member of the family only cares that the gift we give him comes from the heart.  That it is an offering of who we are.  Of course I am talking about our gift to the King – our Lord, Jesus.  Sunday I spoke of the gift of Thanksgiving.  This week I will share and encourage you to give the gift of Holiness – then Praise and then Willingness.  These gifts come with no price tag – but the price tag of our hearts.  What does your heart say you should bring to the Savior?  The Baby?  The King of Glory?   I think often times He goes overlooked in our gift giving during the Christmas season.  We buy and make for everyone else.  But what about the reason for the season?

As we finish this year of 2011 I want to encourage you to make a gift to the King.  A gift that will make a difference in your life – and in the life of those around you – a gift of thanksgiving, a gift of holiness, a gift of praise and a gift of willingness.  The gift of yourself.

Finishing strong, finishing faithful,

Pastor David

The quote reminded me that each and every one of us, Christian or not has a mission in life.  As Christians our mission is the great commission – it is making disciples – beginning with ourselves and then moving like it says in Acts 1:8 – and moving out into every part of our lives.

This commission and pattern is easily adaptable to every part of our lives.  I have a friend in the financial services industry who has been talking about this with me even.  He trains his sales people to think about selling to their “whole” world – starting at home, moving out in waves to friends, to colleagues, to those far away.    It is a pattern that works  for other sales people too – and in every industry and in every life.

For us in the church it is a pattern we can easily follow.  We can start at home – even with ourselves.  Move out to immediate family, friends, colleagues and eventually into the far reaches of our world.  It is a perfect and well thought out plan that God has given.  It puts before us opportunity unlike we have ever seen before.  And (thank you Theo Epstein, new Chicago Cubs President) EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO WIN is sacred.  Every opportunity to bring a family member, a friend, a colleague, or some one you have just met off the street into relationship with Jesus is SACRED.

Let’s not miss a single opportunity!

I want you to know that i have heard thousands of these “elevator” speeches, most of which I think are pretty terrible and ineffective.  Most are what i would call the “Shotgun” style – where words are blurted out with the hope of hitting something – or in this case triggering someone elses desire to meet up with the speaker in order to do business.

Sharing Our Life Mission at FCC is a lot like that for most of us.  We don’t really take aim at a target – we hope our words and our life actions speak loudly and cause people to want to know more about our faith, our church, our God.  And what we really know is that we are pretty ineffective.    The shotgun approach simply does not work.  And since it doesn’t work – sometimes we just shoot more often – making lots of noise but seldom hitting anything 0r we stop shooting altogether – and never even have the chance. (but at least it is quiet)

Sharing Your Life Mission well is really like effective marketing.  Effective marketing is usually done with pinpoint targeting, aiming at specific people, with specific needs, wants or hopes.    Effective sharing of our life mission is done the same way.  Identifying people’s needs, wants and hopes and then taking action to meet them.

So how do you identify who you share your mission with?  You assess your passions and talents.  You look at your five circles of relationships.  Family, Friends, Acquaintances, Fun and Work and identify names of people your passsions and talents can help, then you make a plan – identifying who to help or share with and the first 2 or three steps along the way.  Remembering all along that because you are sharing with people, the path, the need, the hope might change along the way.

Share your life mission – do it today!

Will you choose to accept the mission God has for your life?  Will you change your agenda to God’s?  Will you let God be in charge of your life?

I always loved the openings to Mission Impossible because the mission was laid out and then the message self destructed.  The characters then had to decide right then and there whether or not to accept or decline the mission.

The mission is pretty simple.  It is explained in scripture this way:

“Go into all the world  making disciples, baptizing them, teaching them,” Matthew 28:19

or

“Love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:9

The single, most important way to love one another is to share the good news with them – and the best way to do that is to love them as Jesus has loved you.

To do this requires a special dedication because not everyone you meet will be lovable to our human senses.  It requires a dedication to God’s will instead of our own.  A dedication to God’s agenda instead of my own.  A real commitment to the part of the Lord’s Prayer we often gloss over saying:

“Thy Kingdom come, THY will be done.” Matthew 6:10

You have a mission.  Will you choose to accept it?

I can name the giants in my life today pretty easily on one hand.  I suspect that each of us can do the same.  Your giants are most likely not mine – and mine not yours.  Every church has some giants of faith.  Every nation has a few giants who laid it all on the line.  In the US the names “Washington” and “Lincoln” are historical giants.  ”Martin Luther King” transcended both the church and the nation.

I invite you to read Hebrews 11:4-38.  Here you find what is commonly called the “Hall of Faith.”  It is a passage devoted to some of the real GIANTS of the Christian Faith.  Here you can read of Abel and Enoch, Noah and Abraham, Moses, Rahab, David and Samuel.  One after another will inspire and encourage you – hopefully to read more about them, learn their ways and to let them mentor each of us for all of life.

Our giants of the faith are heroes and they will teach us about life, leadership and servanthood.  Let your GIANTS help you live LARGE!

Live Large!

Baseball season is here.  As a Cubs fan – I am eternally hopeful.  As a follower of the White Sox and the Brewers my opportunity for seeing lots of baseball is very high.  I like baseball because it is such a good example of what the church is supposed to be like in real life.

Baseball is the epitome of a “team” game.  Fact is all of my favorite sports fit this description except for golf.  But think with me just a bit about what it means to be a part of the team.   Every baseball team in the Major Leagues is allowed to carry 25 players.  Each team carries around 10 pitchers and 15 position players.  Every team has an Owner, a General Manager, a Manager and 4-6 coaches, each having varying degrees of responsiblity for the teams success.  And here is one thing that I know.  The team that wins the world series is the team that for one season has its management, coaching staff, pitchers and position players carry out their roles at the highest level for the whole season.  Major League Baseball for the most part has the best players in the world pretty evenly divided over all the teams.  (Yankee fans and haters just be quiet – they all think that the Yankees have paid for the best players)

If I were to divide the church into a baseball team it would look a little bit like this.

Owner:  God  - He has paid the price

General Manager:  Jesus – he has developed the team

Field Manager:  the Pastor – he has been given the task of casting the vision and                                                calling the plays.

Coaching Staff:  the Elders – they are teachers and supports of the managers vision                                                                and the players abilities.

Pitchers:  Deacons – Have specific roles – Some long term, (starters) other short term,                                           (relievers)

Position Players:  the congregation – everyone is involved in every play – sometimes the ball is hit directly at you – sometimes you have to back someone up.  You may be a starter playing nearly every day or perhaps you are a bench player, playing only when someone is hurt or your specific talent or skill is needed.   Every team needs every position filled.  In fact every team in the majors has 5-6 minor league teams where players are trained for the major league teams.  In the church these might be small groups or

Fans:  the world’s people – wanting to be a part of the team!

The good news is that in the church we are all a part of the team.  We all have a role – we all have tasks and just like on a baseball team a member of the team is unable to do their part – then the whole church, the whole team suffers.

I love baseball season.  Come on Cubs!  And I love the church!  Come on First Christian!

Your Pastordude!

“why do you call me good?  No one is good, except God alone.”

Jerry Bridges in his book The Discipline of Grace says this:

“Your worse days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace.  And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”

Every single one of us knows we need grace.  In the church, out of the church, grace is needed by each and everyon one of us.  Would you like to know why?    Because without it there would be NO tomorrow worth living for.  Without grace not one of us could have a relationship with another human being that amounted to anything more than civil at best and absolutely disastrous any other time.    It is grace that allows us to fail and to get back up again to fight another day.  Without it the messages from others would be “stay down,” “give up,” “get out of the way.”

Grace for each one of us is a gift.  It begins with God.  God gives us grace from the beginning of time.  Adam and Eve – when they disobeyed God in the garden – were given grace.   Moses, David, Rachel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos – all were given grace along the way.

Jesus comes and we see grace personified on the cross.  Grace is the gift of a sacrifice on our behalf.  Why does Jesus come?  So that we might have life abundantly.  Why does Jesus die on a cross?  To pay the price for our sin, my sin, your sin.  Why is Jesus buried?  So grace can raise up from the dead.  Why the resurrection – so victory is seen by each and everyone of us.    Grace reminds us that there is no such thing as good enough – unless God says so.  And Jesus – well Jesus is God’s way of saying so.  You are good enough if you are in Jesus.  You are good enough if you receive the gift and let that gift shape, mold and move you.

You are never beyond the reach of God’s grace nor are you ever beyond the need for it.

Grace is the gift that keeps on giving -

Thank God for that!

]]> http://disciplesgurnee.org/1998/how-good-is-good-enough.htm/feed 0 http://disciplesgurnee.org/1971/do-you-have-the-time-part-2.htm http://disciplesgurnee.org/1971/do-you-have-the-time-part-2.htm#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 20:48:00 +0000 Pastor David http://disciplesgurnee.org/?p=1971 Do you have the time?

The time that it takes to become the person God has called you to be?

The time that it takes to develop your life to the fullest, to celebrate all that God has done and is doing?  Time, my friends is the greatest asset each one of us has.   Using the acronymn TIME we can learn to use our time more wisely, develop our time more fully and celebrate our time completely!

T –   Treasure your Time!

There is nothing more valuable than your time.  You get 86,400 seconds every single day and not one more or one less.  These 24 hours are your daily capital.

I –    Invest your Time!

Despite all the appliances and do-dads that promise to SAVE you time, you really can’t save it – you can only invest it.  If you don’t use it, you will lose it!  And where you invest it tells us what is most important to you.  Do you know that most people after all is said and done really only have about 5 hours per day of  discretionary time?  Where do you use those precious minutes?  Do you know?

M – Manage your Time

Like money, time will either be managed by you, or it will manage you.  And of course  ”time” is never really managed – as Steven Covey says in   his book, you can only really manage yourself!  If you are one that complains about not having enough time, just remember that you are the one who choses how your time is managed!

E –  Enjoy your Time

This is the RESULT of time that is treasured, time that is invested well and time that is managed.  As Christians this end result is “being” a disciple, being in a faithful, fruitful relationship that brings joy to our lives.

Time is a gift from God!  Treasure it, Invest it, Manage it, and ENJOY IT!

Blessings,

Pastor David

Time seems to always be slipping away.  We never seem to have enough of it for the “important” things in life.  Our relationships suffer because we don’t have enough.  The number one reason given by people for not reading more is “there’s not enough time.”  The number one reason given for people not doing devotions with their family – “there’s not enough time.”  The number one reason for not playing more with our children – “there’s not enough time.”  Over and over again we hear this complaint.  ”I would, but i don’t have the time.”   A whole electronic calendar and alarm industry has developed because “I don’t have time….”

Could it be perhaps, that we don’t have the time, because we have given it away?  Misused it?  Abused it?  Could it be that we don’t have the time because we don’t manage our time very well, we don’t keep the important things on the clock and let time slip by?

I had a class in college that started at 7:30am by the record book.  But the instructor was always at least 10 minutes late – every day.  We trained well, after two weeks all the students arrived 10 minutes late.  Found out that the professor had 7 kids – all going to school.  We cut him some slack – till we realized that he was 10 minutes late to his 9:30am class too!

Do you have that aunt, uncle or friend that when you invite them to dinner you secretly tell them 30 minutes earlier than your start time?  I do – more than one.    What is that about?  Why is it that time seems so precious to so few and so misused and abused by so many?

A good friend of mine told me once that how people used their time told what was important to each and every person.  I think its true.  Another friend said that people who are late all the time usually are guilty of the sin of pride – thinking that their schedule, their activities are always more important than everyone else’s.  I think its true.  The Bible tells us that time, every minute is a gift from God.  How we use it is very important.

So let me ask you this question:  How do you use your time?  Who does it glorify?  You or God?  Who does it serve?  You or God?  Who reaps the benefits for how you use your time?  You or God?    Want to know a great secret?  If your time glorifies God, serves God, benefits God – it will also benefit, serve and glorify you.  If it doesn’t?  it won’t matter what you do with your time – it will only be wasted.

Time is the one precious commodity we really have.  How we use it either will change the world or cement it into place.

Keeping track of the time….I have to go.

Pastor David

It gives steps to becoming a great salesman/saleswoman and you may ask why this is important.  The reason is simple.  Every single one of us is selling.  From Main Street to suburbia, from the church to the coffin, we are all selling.  And what are we selling?  We are selling ourselves.    My friend Barbara Kincaid reminds us often that people want to do business with people they “know, like and trust.” And the fact of the matter is this – not only do we want to do business with people we know like and trust, we want to be friends with, serve with, create with the same.

Last time I talked about deciding to make each and every day new – saying - Today I begin a new life! Take a minute – go look in a mirror and say that outloud.

The second step begins with this declaration and builds on the first: (repeat after me)

“I will greet each day with love in my heart.”

This is about our attitude towards everything.  We live in a polarized world.  We can either grow or die.  We can be passionate about life or just let is slide by.  We can either love or hate. I believe these are the choices and to not choose to grow is to choose to die.  To choose not to live passionately is to let life slide by.  To choose not to love is to choose to hate.

This decision to greet the day with love is to decide before you get out of bed how you will relate to everyone around you, how you will spend your energy, how you will speak every word.    This decision is a decision as Mandino says to encourage rather than discourage, applaud instead of criticize and to praise instead of gossip.    This decision is to build bridges between people instead of walls for bridges make opportunities rise and walls keep us locked away from success.

How do I do this today?  You start first with yourself – and you tell yourself first that YOU are loved and through the day you will always act like you love yourself.  When you meet someone on the street or in the market or wherever you go think to yourself before you ever speak – “I love this person.”

And remember this – to love someone is to expect and desire for them all the good that there is.  To care for them, to see and to meet their needs, to support and build up each one you meet.

The results will be amazing.  Start each day new.  Greet each day with love in your heart.

Watch your world change and have a great day!

Choose this day…..to live with love in your heart!