Be Where You Are

I was listening to a talk by Craig Groeschel at a recent Catalyst conference.
He was talking about how my generation (20/30 somethings) always wants things now.
We want influence that rivals Bill Hybels,
but we don’t want to put in the work and the years it took Bill to get where he is.
Ya know what?
Craig is right.
I’m guilty of that.

But then God gave me this phrase, and I’ve been dwelling and thinking on it for a few weeks now.

Where you are is where God has you. And where he has you is where you’re called to make an impact.  

Dang.
Hit me like a ton of bricks!
Where I am is exactly where God intends for me to be.
And I’d be a fool to think that the reason for my “here” is so that one day I’ll be “there.”
I’m called to BE here.
To learn all I can.
To serve as much as I can.
To give as much as I can.
To love as much as I can.

I’m still learning this…
Don’t get caught in the “someday”
Figure out how you can thrive in the “today” 

Family Time

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about this blog.
In my short time as a “blogger” I’ve noticed a tension.
The tension I feel is to bring content Monday-Friday…
No matter what.
Well that’s just unrealistic.
And seeing as how I’m not cool enough to have people guest post to fill days,
there will be some dead-time on the blog periodically.

What was the cause this time?
Family.
We had fun.
I hope you did to.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

#TheBabyIsProof

I absolutely love this time of year.
It seems as though everyone seems to be on board with celebrating.
As Christians, we choose to celebrate a baby being born.
Jesus Christ.
God with us.
Pretty stinkin’ cool.

I also love twitter (anyone surprised?)
And around this time of year there’s a really neat hashtag.
#TheBabyIsProof
Proof of what?
Proof that…

God loves you.
God has a plan for you.
Your best is not behind you, but ahead of you
There is hope for you
Your failure is not final
You are accepted

All of that is true.
The baby is proof.

Changed to bring Change.

Elevation Church has a great worship ministry.
Seriously.
They’ve come out with some amazing songs.
Songs that are packed with truth and resonate deeply in my spirit.
This particular song, God be praised, has a bridge that is such a great reminder.

Because I’m alive, I give you my life.
Because I am free, I bow at your feet.
Because I am loved, I’m able to love.
Because I am yours, my worth is secured.

It is because of Jesus that we can finally be free to release our burdens and rest in our Heavenly Father’s arms.
In Him we are free.
In Him we have life.
Let us never forget that it’s through Jesus this is all possible.

Inside Out

So I posted yesterday about my gym…so I thought I would continue the trend.
I used to workout at Bally’s.
I don’t anymore.
I still go to the same building, but Bally’s was bought out by LA Fitness (or at least this location was).
So now I workout at LA Fitness.
And the whole “switch over” from one to the other got me really thinking.

You see, the change has not happened over night.
First, I saw some new faces on the staff.
Then, I noticed the LA Fitness logo on some printed flyers.
Then we got new membership cards to scan.
Now I’m seeing some subtle changes to the equipment.
Here’s what’s interesting…
The sign outside still says Bally’s!
Even though there is a lot of internal work going on,
people think it’s still the same old gym.
You see where I’m going with this?

There may be some changes God is calling you to make in your life.
But they won’t be external for a while.
God may call you (and probably is calling you) to do a lot of internal work first before anything gets done on the outside.
In fact, Jesus was quick to call out those who did external changes first, only to leave the internal stuff in chaos (read Matthew 23)
Now, I’m not saying that the external shouldn’t reflect the internal.
Sooner or later there’s gonna be a LA Fitness sign put up.
But once the sign is put up…
it will be a simple reflection of what has already happened on the inside.

I am learning this daily.
Let God change you from the inside out.
Not the other way around.

Have it your way

I try and make wise choices when it comes to the food I eat.
“Try” being the key word there.
I don’t always succeed.
There are days when the craving for fast food arrives in all its splendor…
Tempting me to give in and enjoy the delicious yet fattening food
What’s worse?
There is a Burger King right next to the gym where I workout.

Talk about ironic.
Every time I drive to the gym, I have to drive past the Burger King entrance.
I have to endure the awesome smell of Burger King fries as I make my way to the treadmill.
There are days where I would rather just pull off into the drive-thru and satisfy the craving…
But I tell myself to just keep driving.

I know it’s a loose analogy.
But this idea of “choices” has never been more real to me than at this point in my life.
The decisions you make today will determine your reality tomorrow.
There will be times when the temptation will be strong.
But I encourage you to “keep driving”
You never know what’s at stake.
Don’t give up.
Don’t give in.
Keep going.

Let’s see, Tell Everyone

This weekend in RustProof I taught on this idea…
Let’s see, Tell Everyone.
It’s a week before Christmas, so we went the traditional route
We read out of Luke 2.
And those two phrases pop up in verse 15 and verse 17.
Let’s see, Tell Everyone.
Let me explain.

The main point of my talk was simple:
The best way to use the gift of Christmas (Jesus) is to share it with others.
In fact, it’s the only true response when we’ve truly experienced Jesus.
And that’s exactly what the shepherds did in Luke 2.
After the angels had told them what was up…they went to see for themselves this baby that had been born.
But they didn’t stay there!
After seeing, they left to tell everyone what they had seen.

So many of us (Christians) are just content with seeing.
We have gone to the “manger” and experienced Jesus for ourselves.
Yet we’re still there.
We haven’t taken the next step.
We need to take the experience we’ve had and now share it with others.

The challenge was simple.
Move from a “Let’s see” faith, to a “Tell Everyone” faith.
Your friends and family deserve to know about the Jesus you’ve experienced.
It’s about time you tell them.

Satan’s watching your game film

The Bible is clear about two things.
We have an enemy.
He wants to destroy us.
(to be fair, the Bible is clear about a lot of other things as well…I’m just focusing on those two)

In fact, 1 Peter 5:8 lays it right out there.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Satan is prowling around like a lion looking to devour someone.
A good question to ask would be:  How does he know if he’s found someone to devour?
I think the answer to that question is found near the beginning of the verse.
He’s gonna devour anyone who isn’t “alert” and doesn’t have a “sober mind.”

I heard a preacher make the analogy that Satan spends a lot of time watching our game film.
Of course, it’s a football analogy.
For a team to even have a chance at beating their opponent, they have to study their opponents’ game film.
What does the team do well?
Where are the weak spots on the team?
What routes do they always run?
They look for the weak areas of the team so they can attack those areas come game time.

That’s exactly what Satan does.
He watches you carefully.
He studies your weak areas.
He knows where he can attack.

No wonder Peter urges us to be alert.
We need to know where our weak areas are.
We need to know where Satan attacks.
Each of us has our own desires (see James 1:13-15)
So we shouldn’t be surprised at our weak areas.
Instead, we should be ready for it!

Seeing how Satan watches all of our game film,
I think it’s only appropriate we watch some of his game film.
After all, what better way to be alert and of sober mind than by KNOWING how Satan is gonna play the game.

Be alert.
Have a sober mind.
Watch some game film.

Students: 4 questions ya need to answer

It’s Throwback Thursday – where I go back a year or two and grab my favorite posts.
Since posting this…I actually had the honor of giving a talk based around these 4 questions to our high school students.  
Still today I believe that these are four of the most important questions a student can answer. 

___________________________

heard a sermon preached on this subject, and it was worth blogging about.
below are four questions every teenager needs to answer

What’s in your hands?
what has God wired you to do?  when God interacted with moses, He asked, “what’s in your hands?” for moses it was a staff that eventually got turned into a snake (rad). what has God placed in your hands that can be used for his glory?  Is it a talent? a passion? a gift?  what gets you mad? what breaks your heart?  the thing that’s in your hands is God-given…and if you’ll give that gift back to your creator, then he’ll use it (along with you) to do some amazing things!

Am I know trying to win the approval of men or of God?
this question is taken from Galatians 1:10 – paul is addressing the issue of acceptance. “if i were still tyring to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”  as teenagers, you have to choose who you’re going to live for.  which audience are you going to try and please?  living for the approval of men is a waste of time…because ultimately it’s God who is going to judge your life…no one else.  it’s God who has placed HIS value on you…no one else. live for the right audience!

How can a young man keep his way pure?
Psalm 119:9
this is a question of integrity.
the answer? – “by living according to Your Word.”
you’re going to live your life according to someone’s plan…it may as well be God’s perfect plan for your life.
how often do you spend time in God’s word?  what’s the last verse you memorized? a lot of us have junk in our brains. images that we wish we could erase.  truth is we can’t erase them, but we can dilute them. spending time in God’s Word is crucial if you are striving for purity. after all, how do you renew your mind? by putting NEW things in it.

Who do you say I am?
this was a question that Jesus asked his disciples.
this question deals with our eternity.  who do we say Jesus is?
is He the son of God? just a prophet? a crazy man? our savior?
every person must answer this question. and in the context of this blog…every teenager needs to come to grips with this question…how will you answer it?  will you submit to Jesus now, and pursue his calling early? will you “put it on the back burner” until you’re grown up and filled with regret?

there ya have it.  4 questions every teenager needs to answer.

taken from a message given by Steven Furtick to a student audience (@ Elevation Church)

Don’t pull a Kanye…

Remember that one time?
When Kanye ran out on stage and interrupted a tremendous moment for Taylor Swift?
You can find PLENTY of coverage of that here.

A while back the NRSM team at NorthRidge put on Fall Retreats for both High School and Middle School and our theme was “In Lights.”
The question we asked as “Who is really in the spotlight of your life?”
We all have the tendency to want center stage…but God might be calling us to be on the stage crew and open/close the curtains.

And to use the Kanye analogy loosely…we encouraged students to watch out for the tendency to steal the spotlight.
I especially have this tendency.
I love to get applause and affirmation.
But if I’m truly living out a Jesus-centered life, then everything I do will simply be a reflection of what Christ is doing through me…and all the applause and glory will be directed back to Him!

So, in your own life, don’t pull a Kanye.
Make sure God stays where he belongs.
Center stage.