Make 2015 A Year of Change

3 Resolutions You Must Make This Year

Here's something new for the blog. Maybe it will happen once, maybe it will happen weekly.
What follows is yesterday's sermon in 10 statements...

1. Jesus provided three primary commands for those who wished to follow him. They were:

2. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength. "All" is the key word.

3. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Here is the foundational principle for what would someday become the golden rule.

4. Love one another as I have loved you. Jesus' love for his followers was a sacrificial love. He said the greatest love of all is a man who lays down his life for his friends. Then He laid down his life for His friends.

5. Prioritizing these commands in our life requires us to DEMONSTRATE our love through ACTION.

6. Our love for God is demonstrated when we obey ALL his commands. If we choose to ignore certain of His expectations, we are demonstrating self-love rather than love for God.

7. Our love for our neighbor is demonstrated when we positively impact every person with whom we come into contact.

8. Our love for one another is demonstrated when we sacrifice our time, talents or treasures for the good of the body of Christ.

9. Our journey of character formation is made up of the whole of every "step" we take.

10. Each new year's resolution you make is a step toward something. Use your resolutions to form your character to match that of Jesus.

Tonight, My Heart is Full.

My heart is full tonight.

And not just because I’m hanging out on the couch with my honey watching a BeeGees tribute band (although that would usually be enough).

Two years ago, Marianne and I moved as far back in the auditorium as we could. We simply wanted to watch our daughter perform in the band and remain as anonymous as possible. We didn’t really know anyone around us, and that was okay.

For several years, we had struggled to move our children out of a dysfunctional school that was not good for them. Now they had started at a new school and were transitioning well, but we were yet a bit numb. We had lost friends; for integrity’s sake, I had left my job; we were making ends meet but had no idea what was around the corner. That night, we just wanted to get in, hear the music and get out.

Tonight was so different.

Tonight we sat with close friends and laughed with the people around us, the parents of our children’s classmates. We watched our daughter do something she loves, surrounded by people who love her. We enjoyed the performance of the children of our closest, life-long friends, people who had made this difficult journey with us.

As we stood to sing carols, surrounded by over 1000 parents, friends and grandparents, I looked over the edge of the balcony and swept my eyes across the crowd of people who used to be strangers but were now friends. There were soccer parent friends and volleyball parent friends, partners in the concession stand and co-chaperones from class trips and parties. I couldn’t help but think how fortunate we are to have been warmly welcomed into this community.

My children are loved by their teachers. They are mentored by coaches who care about every child. They have been positively influenced by older students, and now they are seizing the opportunities to build into the lives of those who follow them. They understand the power of servanthood. I could never have imagined a better environment for their education.

My mind wandered to my church family at The Gathering. Less than a month after that first concert, I received the initial call from a friend wondering if I might be interested in pastoring there. I am so fortunate to teach there every Sunday. I thought about how kind, gracious, generous and loving my church is. I found myself overwhelmed with gratitude that they have been so flexible to allow me to be their pastor and still be a father.

I couldn’t help but think of my friend John and the picture he posted on his Facebook page shortly before his death. He quoted C.S. Lewis, and those words which applied to John’s life certainly apply to mine.

There are far far better things ahead than anything we leave behind.

Indeed, there are.

How do you deal with life's disappointments?

Everybody deals with disappointment in life.

Some people face minor disappointments and some people face major disappointments. Some people deal with unspeakable disappointment.

 But for the Christian, disappointment should never lead to despair. We all have different disappointments in our past, and we all share one common event in the past.

That event is the cross. Christ's work in the past brings peace to our present and gives us hope for the future!

 

10 Rules To Shape Your Life

Try reading this list every morning to inspire you toward better living. Then examine yourself each night to evaluate your growth.

1. Be good 
2. Incentivize desired behavior 
3. Delay spending 
4. Seek a third solution 
5. Compliment effort and virtue 
6. Invest your energy in that which you can control 
7. Plan ahead 
8. Confront others lovingly & only for their benefit 
9. Do your best 
10. Give credit; claim blame

2 Easy Steps to Change Your Life

Life-Change made simple requires two steps.

1) Get rid of the bad stuff in your life.
2) Replace it with good stuff.

This seems ridiculously simple, but often the simplest things in life are the hardest to believe. However, this formula doesn’t originate with me, it was Paul’s idea about 2000 years ago.

Read and contemplate Colossians 3:12-17.

The part of Colossians 3 which you read was part two of our formula above. These were the things you are to bring into your life to facilitate spiritual Life-Change.

Consider this.

Paul says (v15) to let the peace of God reign in our hearts. Can you do that? If you can relax and be at peace, knowing that God is in control, you’ll have a much easier time loving those around you.

Those who have peace can love others because they aren’t worried about taking care of themselves. As a result, they are able to “above all, put on love”.

Paul’s point is that if you are a loving person; your heart will be compassionate, you will be a kind and humble person, your life will be characterized by meekness and patience, and you will have no problem bearing with and forgiving those around you.

Of course, all this is made possible if you are letting the “word of Christ dwell in you richly.” If you are spending time (particularly with other believers) getting into the Word of God, and letting the Word of God get into you; it will not be long until you begin to notice the Life-Change taking place in your own life.

Ultimately, Life-Change happens (check out verse 17) when you are willing to attack every thing in life as if you are doing it specifically for Jesus!

Today:

If you have time, go back and read the entire chapter of Colossians 3. Think through the “bad stuff” you need to get rid of and what “good stuff” you will replace it with.

How to Avoid Feeding the Stomach But Losing the Soul

Read and Contemplate 1 Peter 2:11-12.

In our efforts to be "in the world", we face a constant temptation to become indistinguishable from the world.

One must be careful that in pursuit of being relevance, the true distinctness of faith is not lost. Because an externally-focused life requires loving the people in the world (particularly those who are "hard to love") it can be easy to get so caught up in social causes that the gospel is lost.

It is right, appropriate, and incumbent on the church to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoners, and comfort the oppressed. However, it would be better for those people to enter the kingdom hungry, naked, and captive than for them to be full, clothed, and free but miss the kingdom.

The other side of this coin is that Christians can sometimes, in an effort to bring change to the world, become so politically entrenched that the lines between God's kingdom and the political parties become impossible to see (this happens on all sides!).

We must take great care as we seek to enact the mission of Jesus, that it not lose the Gospel of Jesus!

A template for externally-focused living is found in 1 Peter 2:11,

“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

Externally-Focused Christians:

• Understand their identity -- Aliens and Strangers Understand their identity
• Embrace their location -- in the world Embrace their location
• Live Appropriately -- abstain from sinful desires Live Appropriately
• For the sake of the Kingdom -- they may...glorify God on the day he visits us.

Instead of separating ourselves, by abstaining from the world, we need to cautiously abstain from sin, not the world. That is the heart of externally-focused living.

Today: Focus your energy on serving someone you don’t know. Imagine what Jesus would do for that person, then do it.

Sometimes You Just Need To End Things!

Life is a series of endings... And new beginnings.

The new beginnings are always great, but we often miss out on great beginnings because endings are often painful. Too often we choose to continue something we know should end, simply because we are afraid the ending might be too difficult. As a result, we often miss out on what could have been a fabulous beginning.

STOP! You don't need to keep doing that

For some people, endings are never an option. Rather than choosing to stop something that is no longer healthy, they will work themselves into exhaustion trying to solve an impossible problem.

Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable, and for that reason people are often unwilling to face it. Almost always, this type of avoidance leads to an even more uncomfortable situation or truth.

Richard Nixon learned this lesson the hard way. When the watergate scandal first broke, he could have stepped in, apologized, and ended the wrong behavior. This would have been painful. He would have needed to swallow his pride, admit wrong-doing, and indict some of his clothes friends and trusted advisors. That pain was something he was unwilling to face, so he chose continued deception over a healthy ending. Eventually, he lost everything because he wasn't willing to lose a few things.

I know this runs contrary to most "wisdom" we hear or think. But according to Necessary Endings (by Henry Cloud), "sometimes the best thing a leader or anyone else can do is give up hope in what they are currently trying." Hope often is the only thing that keeps us going... Sometimes, that is a big problem. Your hope can keep you walking a path that may have been right at some time, but is not right now, and will never be right again. It might be your hope that is keeping you from getting back on the right path.

Pruning is a process we all understand to be necessary for healthy growth. Usually it is a term reserved for gardening and nature, but occasionally Christians use it to refer to the trials God uses to grow us. Almost never, though, do we speak of pruning our own lives. Why not?

Life is full of dead-ends. Recognize them, and move on.

You don't need to succumb to the misery of going nowhere. Life's dead ends don't have to cripple you. You aren't consigned to fixing every problem you ever encounter for the rest of your life. You can choose to create your own healthy endings, to cut away the once good things that are now weighing you down. You can proactively prepare yourself for a NEW BEGINNING by making space with a necessary ending.

Of course, some will abuse this concept. We shouldn't always end things musts because they are hard. We should never break the covenants we have made with God or others simply because we have a hankering for something different. But consider this post an encouragement to look at your life. What are the the things that could end, that you could do without. How can you clean up your world to make room for some new beginnings which today are still beyond your comprehension?

Endings don't have to be bad. Sometimes, they are the best thing that could ever happen!

Posted with Blogsy

Before You Yell, Play 90 Minutes in Their Cleats

This was originally posted several years ago, but it is always relevant to talk to parents about their kid's involvement in sports! (also there's a little life lesson for EVERYONE at the end!)


Two things I observed over the past week (both at Shoreline Soccer) that gave me pause to consider my own behavior.

The first happened while Liam was a footwork clinic (put on by Dan McAllister of FC Joga Bonita). On the opposite field a game was being played by two girls teams; I would guess they were U8 (maybe U10). One dad was standing directly behind the goal loudly admonishing his daughter, the goalie, to play "better". Actually, he was yelling and screaming at her "use your hands", "go out", "cut the angle", etc. When the other team scored, he would throw his hands up in disgust and walk away... not aware that she had turned to see if he would tell her that it was okay.


Most striking to me about this situation was that I was fairly confident, based on the size of this man, that he would not be able to play goalie at any level of soccer. Quite frankly, I think his daughter was making saves that he couldn't dream of making.

The second incident happened last night at my own soccer game. I didn't have my "A" game (by the way, my A game would be considered a low C by most). We lost the game, partly due to my poor play on defense. I can't account for why I played poorly. I was putting forth a good effort, I didn't give up on plays, I was concentrating on having good technique, I talked to my team-mates; in short, I did everything a coach would tell a player to do, but I was just off. My shots were poor, my passes were a bit long or a bit short, my long balls into the box were nowhere near my teammates heads. It was frustrating.

Sometimes that happens. Sometimes I play well, sometimes I play poorly.

Here's where I'm going with all this. Over the years, I've watched/coached A LOT of youth soccer. Few things bother me more than the parents who take their kids to task for not playing well, when the parents have no idea what it is like to be out on the field. Most of the time, when a kid is not playing well, they know it. They're trying, but it's just not happening. Most of the time, they are putting forth their best effort, but their A game is simply escaping them.

It seems parents don't understand this, and I think it's because they have no idea what it is like to play a complete game within the context of a complete season.

My bad game won't bother me too much, because next week I'll have an opportunity to do better, and hopefully I will. My team-mates are always gracious with me, and so I'm comfortable knowing I wasn't great but maybe next time I'll be the one who picks the team up.

But if I was little Jimmy or little Suzie, and I had to hear my parents tell me how poorly I played after that game, I'm not sure I'd want to go back...

So there's this: PARENTS, BACK OFF!

but there's also this: Be really careful about drawing conclusions about someone (not just in soccer, but in all of life), until you've played 90 minutes in their cleats!

Don't Assume the Preview is Anything Like the Movie

Have you ever decided to not see a movie because you were so unimpressed by the preview?

Marianne and I like to get to movies early so we can see the previews, and as we watch them we will whisper to each other whether or not we want to see the actual movie.

Sometimes, we just don't go to a movie because of the preview.

Sometimes, we go in spite of the preview.

Sometimes, we go because of the preview.

Over the years, I've realized that movie previews rarely do a movie justice. There have been some movies with terrible previews that became instant favorites for us. There have been some movies with amazing previews that turned out to be unbearable. I'm not sure why I would expect it to be differently. How can I possibly expect to understand the worth of a 2 hour movie after seeing only 30 seconds of mixed together clips?

Isn't life just like that?

We get a small taste of a situation and decide immediately whether or not it is for us. We see a brief encounter between two people and quickly draw a conclusion as to the nature of their relationship. We hear a snippet of information about someone and assume we are now qualified to judge them.

Proverbs says, "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him."

Recently, I've been learning the importance of not assuming you have the whole truth until you've examined the matter yourself. The words of James have spurred me to be one who is "quick to listen" especially when I'm not sure I have the full story.

I don't want to miss something really good because I jump to a conclusion too quickly, and I don't want to find myself in the middle of something really bad because I believed a preview.

That's where I am this morning. If it's good for you, then great!

Inclusive Christians Offer Grace to All

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. (James 2:1)

 Have you ever noticed that some people are easier targets for grace than others? We don’t like to admit this, but we would rather show grace to certain people; and we would rather not show grace to other people. Whether it’s because of who they are, what they’ve done, where they’re from or what they smell like; I know I often find myself tempted to not extend the same grace to one person as I would to another.

Read and Contemplate James 2:1-13.

We are commanded to not show partiality.

We cannot be obedient to Scripture and treat some more graciously than others. We need to look at people through our “Jesus Goggles”.

We need to see people the way Jesus sees them, not the way they look to us. Jesus didn’t care if people were rich or poor, ugly or beautiful, fun or boring, loud or quiet, outgoing or withdrawn, etc. (you get the point!). Jesus saw everyone around him as someone who needed grace.

When you view people with Jesus Goggles, you will see them differently:

• You’ll no longer see people who have offended you; you’ll see people who need to be offered grace.
• You’ll no longer see people who are irritating; you’ll see people who need to be shown grace.
• You’ll no longer see people who drain your energy and resources; you’ll see people who are desperate for grace.

Today: Every time you interact with someone, ask yourself how Jesus would see this person. Then deal with them accordingly!