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Ps Steven Furtick of Elevation church is a champion! I just love reading his blogs. He has a great leadership gift over his life. If you haven't checked out his blog yet... what are you waiting for? I want to give you a link to a great post that he made about identity. Check this snippet out:
"I need to remember that when I’m heavy with inadequacy and uncertainty. Who I am in Christ comes before what I do for Christ."
Click HERE to see the rest of the post.

Are You Living In Babylon? Part 3

How you doing? I have been trying to go to bed earlier because of this documentary that I was watching about sleep. They were insistent that 6hrs sleep was not enough and that we needed at least 8. Well I never rarely get more than 6hrs... I'm usually in bed between the hours of 12:30am and 1:30am and I get up at 7am.
I can't say that I've felt that much better... but I certainly haven't had much time to listen to podcasts, blog, and do some of the creative thinking that seems to come alive from 11pm on.

Well thats me. Hey, I just realized today that I haven't been twittering... I had just totally forgotten about it over last weekend and that was the last that I had thought about it... I better go and do an entry right now... hold on, I'll be back in a sec.
Oh heck, its been so long that I've even forgotten my password! shameful : ) By the way, have you checked out my (now) newly updated twitter? Click HERE to check it out.

I read a great thought from Rick Warren today. I can't remember the magazine that I was reading and I don't have it to give you a direct quote but it went something like this:
Life is a series of problems. Either you are right in the middle of one now, or you are just coming through it or are about to enter one. In life we constantly face problems because God is more interested in our character than our happiness.
What a great thought! And how relevant to our discussion on living with the Babylonian mindset that says at all cost we must cling to comfort. But the truth is that we cannot follow God and hold to comfort at the same time. look anywhere in the Bible and you will find God stretching people right out of their comfort zones. How odd that today we have leaders who want to speak and influence others ... but who desire to do it cheaply. Who are we trying to kid anyway?!

Let me know your thoughts :P

Are You Living In Babylon? Part 2

So from the last post we saw that for a vast majority of Christians who have been bought out by a Babylonian system ... comfort is the name of the game.

I'm sure you love going to church... isn't it great how the services are designed to fit around our busy schedules. And I love what happens at church... but its it a bit of a pain when we are asked to get involved. And don't you just hate it when they ask for you to part with your hard earned cash? And why is it that people always need our help when its so inconvenient for us?

But does comfort and true Christianity go together?
Consider some of the following versus from the Bible:

Mat 10:38 CEV
(38) And unless you are willing to take up your cross and come with me, you are not fit to be my disciples.


Mat 5:10-12 CEV
(10) God blesses those people who are treated badly for doing right. They belong to the kingdom of heaven.
(11) God will bless you when people insult you, mistreat you, and tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me.
(12) Be happy and excited! You will have a great reward in heaven. People did these same things to the prophets who lived long ago.

Lev 25:35-36 CEV
(35) If any of your people become poor and unable to support themselves, you must help them, just as you are supposed to help foreigners who live among you.
(36) Don't take advantage of them by charging any kind of interest or selling them food for profit. Instead, honor me by letting them stay where they now live.

Php 2:3-4 CEV
(3) Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves.
(4) Care about them as much as you care about yourselves

Mat 6:24 CEV
(24) You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Mar 9:35 CEV
(35) After Jesus sat down and told the twelve disciples to gather around him, he said, "If you want the place of honor, you must become a slave and serve others!"


I don't know about you... but those versus are like a cold icy shower.
It makes you do a double take.
It makes me think... where do I fit... in the Babylonian mold or in a more truly Christian mold?

Let me know your thoughts on this post.

Are You Living In Babylon? Part 1

I heard a really great message by Ps Michael Pitts which had a really great thought in it... one that has spurred on a couple of thoughts that I'd like to share with you.

Ps Michael compared the bondage of Egypt with the captivity in Babylon.
In Egypt the people were treated badly, and were given leeks and onions to eat.
But whenever one is oppressed at some point there is always an uprising.

Babylon on the other hand gave their slaves meat and wine. They bought them... and so when the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem... many didn't. They liked the comforts of Babylon.

Today we have been bought out by a Babylonian system that teaches us to live for self gratification and comfort.
In the next few posts we will look at how this outworks in our everyday lives.

Till next time...
(PS: I'd love to hear your thoughts on the post)

The New Stained Glass

I must tell you that I have been enjoying the thunder... you can read more about this as well as an awesome post by Ps Mark Batterson on our church's blog. Just click HERE.

As you may have noticed (on the bar to the right), I have also joined up to twitter. I have decided to give it a bash and see how it goes. It should be fun.

Well I won't make this post too long cause I really want you to read Mark Batterson's post. I know that you'll enjoy it!

Chow!

Your No Determines Your Destiny

Tonight we brought to a close our series in the 6pm service called NO. I thought I'd share with you one of my thoughts from tonights message.

Before Jesus graduated into ministry... He had to have practiced His NO's. We see this when His parents brought Him to the temple at age 12. A few days into traveling back Jesus' parents realized that he was not with them and so they returned to Jerusalem to frantically search for Him. Finally they found Jesus in the temple astounding the teachers of the law. And as all parents do they freaked out and let Jesus have it. They wanted Jesus to follow their expectation... but He simply explained that He was about His Father's business.
Jesus said no to their expectation and yes to the call of God on His life.

Then just as Jesus is about to launch into ministry the Holy Spirit sends Him into the desert where He fasts for 40 days and the devil comes to tempt Him. 3 times Jesus says NO and quotes Scripture to the devil.

You see it was imperative that Jesus own a strong NO as He entered into ministry as many would try to lay their agenda's and expectations on Jesus. If Jesus was going to follow the call of God on His life He would need to own a strong NO. And its the same with us.

So who sets the agenda and values in your life. Is your life determined by others expectations of you? Or like Jesus, do you own a strong NO so that you can say YES to the call of God for you?

Let me know your thoughts on the subject : )

Who Will You Choose To Offend?

Choosing who you are willing to offend is probably one of the most important leadership questions that you need to answer if you are going to be effective in seeing your God-given vision fulfilled. Want to know why? Then read this great (and short) post from Strategy Central. Just click HERE.

Hope you enjoy the post. Let me know your thoughts : )