It’s More than Just a Sermon

June 24, 2012 By nick Leave a Comment

At New Passion we have been in our Source Code: A Journey through Acts series for a little over a year now. We took a couple of short breaks and picked back up where we left off a couple of months ago.

Today, I preached out of Acts 16, there are several important things that take place in this Chapter, but the best thing about this post is what happened today AFTER I preached this chapter, so keep reading:

  1. Acts 16:6-10 – The Holy Spirit does not permit Paul and Silas to go where THEY want to go. He prevents them from going to the province of Asia and into the north region of what we now know is Turkey. Instead Paul receives a vision from Macedonia and there God would start the church of Philippi through his efforts.
  2. Acts 16:11-35 – God starts to build the church of Philippi with a business woman, Lydia; a (formerly) demon-possessed girl; and a prison guard.
  3. How did God do this? Well, first with Lydia it began by God not giving Paul his way. He closed doors and took away what some would say were opportunities to share the gospel. Paul instead followed the leading of the Spirit, took the time to invest in Lydia, share the gospel and then she believed; Secondly, with the demon-possessed girl, God allowed Paul to be annoyed and frustrated by the demon constantly proclaiming that they were there to preach the message of salvation, through his frustration, Paul casts the demon out of the girl; finally, with the prison guard, God allowed Paul to be arrested for doing God’s work. Through Paul’s example of true, selfless Christianity, the guard believes and is saved. Paul could have looked out for his own neck, but instead he stayed in prison so the guard did not have to lose his.

Here was my point to our people this morning and where my story comes in this afternoon. Who is it that God wants you to stop, take time with and share Jesus with them? That’s your Lydia. Who is it that God is allowing to annoy you? You know that pesky neighbor or co-worker or the aunt you can’t escape from. Maybe he is frustrating you so you’ll share the love of Jesus with them so they might believe. That’s your demon-possessed girl. Finally, and this is where my story comes in today. What situation do you find yourself in where you feel like you are in prison or like your world is falling a part? Who has God surrounded you with in this moment of your life that you can display true Christianity to, so that they might believe and be saved? That’s your prison guard.

Today, I received a tweet from a young man that I have only met once, but got to be with during a week long camp in Jackson, SC, last Summer. I wrote about my experience at the camp in an earlier post, it was amazing! Here’s what his tweet said:

That made my day! I had the privilege of preaching in the service where Noah placed his faith in Jesus for salvation. That in-and-of-itself is awesome, but what makes this story even greater is the fact that I was going through my own “prison experience,” although it was without the orange jump suit and the jail cell.

I was fired (“laid off”) from my job a week before having the opportunity to go speak at this camp. Needless to say, I had a lot on my heart and mind at the time, tons to worry about with a wife, three kids and bills. I didn’t get my way, God closed a door and allowed me to be placed in a very difficult position, but God placed me in that position at that time for his glory and for the salvation of Noah and anyone else who placed their faith in Jesus for salvation during that week of camp.

Sometimes I wonder if Christians think sermons are just a bunch of fancy talk, but can’t really be applied in their own life and in their specific situations. I think some people get excited to hear a different take on Scripture to bring out a point that they’ve never seen, but by the end of the service, the whole point of the message is lost. Today’s sermon was more than “just a sermon” for me, it was real life, it was my life just a year ago. I am privileged to have had the opportunity to lose my job which freed me up to prepare for a camp where a young man, plus others were saved. Noah, is my modern day prison guard. God used my difficult situation to share Jesus with him. Life is not about me, my job or my comfort; it’s about people seeking and feeling their way towards God to find him (Acts 17:26-27). I want to be a part of helping them find him. Thank you, Shane Padgett for allowing me to be used in the middle of a difficult season and thank you for having such a huge vision for students through PHAT Camp.

What situation do you find yourself in right now? Does it feel like Prison, maybe even Hell? Look around you, those are the people watching you to see how you will respond and how you will act. In the middle of living your faith out, you will have the opportunity to share the answer for your hope. Will you take that opportunity? It’s more than just a sermon….

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There’s Hope for a New Generation of Young People

February 27, 2012 By nick 1 Comment

Nicki was cleaning the house the other day and found a paper airplane one of the boys had made lying on the floor. As she went to put it into the trash can she noticed that it had writing on it, so she opened it up and found a note Gavin had written. Apparently, Gavin had a class assignment where he had to write a note which included all of his spelling words. Nicki showed me the note, I was totally amazed.

Gavin is 9 years old and is writing about God as if he has known him for 25 years. I wish I had this level of understanding about God when I was 9 years old and now that I am 31, I wish more adults had this level of understanding about God. I am biased being that I am Gavin’s dad, but I am proud of him that he would write something like this for school, but also because he seems to truly understand our God. I read this and immediately felt confident that there is hope for the upcoming generation of young people. May God continue to raise up a generation of young men and young ladies who will live gospel-centered lives for the glory of God.

Click on the image to enlarge it, if you still can’t read it, I typed the words out below and underlined his spelling words as they appear in the note.

CLICK Photo to Enlarge

 

I live in the state of Georgia where we lively honor God. He wants us to be honest. He will direct us away from evil. He is the direction. There is no doubt that he is good. He is not doubtful of people who worship him. I know he is good and not evil. He is not unknown he is known by people who love him. He can make me relive. He is living and there are statues of him, but we worship he himself. He is honorable. Honestly, I love him. He is my director. He will not indirect us, he is always leading us in the right direction. He is undoubted and always trusted. He gives us knowledge.

My favorite parts:

He is living and there are statues of him, but we worship he himself.
Honestly, I love him.

 

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Only God Can Get the Glory

March 18, 2011 By nick Leave a Comment

I hate preparing a budget. It’s not fun at all. Especially when you have to look at the reality of how much it costs to run a church and the reality of how much money actually comes in to the church; and then there’s the balancing act of budget requests. I never really liked it when I was younger when my dad would tell me that money “doesn’t just grow on trees.” I’ve not only come to realize that as an individual trying to provide for a family, I’ve definitely learned it as a pastor. I could add to my dad’s statement that “God doesn’t just put money in the bank account either, even though its his church.”

I met with our CFO last night and as I was preparing for our meeting I was listing our income versus expenses for the last quarter, laying out some of the things we need to purchase right away, some of the things it would be nice to have right away, and of course the new budget for the second quarter of 2011 (we do a quarterly budget right now since everything is so fluid as a church plant). I was almost tempted to get depressed by what we didn’t have and how little we do have, but in the midst of looking at actual numbers, I was excited and thankful. We are not rich by any means, but we are still breathing and we have what we need to operate and to do a little extra as we need to. See, it wasn’t always this way…

It was only about 22 months ago when things were quite depressing although I made sure to put my happy face on. I wouldn’t recommend starting a church the way I did unless you are absolutely 100% SURE you are called to do it. Most experts will tell you to raise $125,000 or more to do it right, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. At this point I had asked three friends to be as stupid as me and help me launch  the church, two friends couldn’t do it, and the other, Billy Wilson, agreed to launch with me as New Passion’s Mission’s Director. We absolutely had no money. The only money we had was our tithe and the pastor at the church where we were members recommended that I start tithing to New Passion. We had no choice, we had to.

A friend who pastor’s a house church sent me a message and wanted to meet with me. He said that their church wanted to help us, but because they were only a small group of around 8 people and had little money themselves, they could only offer us a loan of $5,000 which would have no due date, no interest, we would just pay them 10% of whatever we brought in the offering every month. We had no money, no building or location to meet, no equipment, we had a CFO outside the church, Billy Wilson and his family was the only leader who had committed, and we had only one other family who was praying about jumping on-board, and I wanted to borrow $5,000. Do you know what you can do with $5,000? A lot with God. I don’t think any of them thought it was a GREAT idea, but they knew we didn’t have too many other options, so they gave me the good ‘ol ‘whatever you think pastor‘ commitment and we signed the papers.

I think I came to the realization at that moment and it has been my personal slogan and motto ever since that “God was going to build New Passion in such a way that only He can get the glory!” Which honestly should be the story of any church. Let me put this into a little bit of perspective though. Between our church logo (one of the first things we bought), our trailer, our first community, “Hey where coming to the area come join us” event, and our mix-matched sound system over $3,800 of that loan was spent. Here’s a few more notes of interest:

  • We launched with a team of 35, oh yeah half of those were children and they can’t serve.
  • When we secured a location, it was an Elementary School, the school board just doubled their rates, we were looking at a lease of $1,740 on a four week month and $2,100 for a five week month.
  • We didn’t have a worship leader until one month before we launched. I asked five other leaders who didn’t work out.
  • We had no other churches partner with us. We had two churches give us $1,000 each and tell us they were praying for us, the spiritual definition of that means, “Good Luck!” :)
  • We did have some individuals give us one time gifts while one friend gave us a re-occurring gift for 6 months.
  • We finally (right before we launched) got $5,000 in start-up funds from the GA Baptist Convention.
  • By the way…Our Church Planting “Coach” left mid-way through our launch process, so we really had no help or guidance in the last couple of months of our launch.
  • All said and done, we launched New Passion with $15,000; $5,000 of which was a loan (oh yeah…and a lot of PVC).
  • Jonothan Powell and his family came on-board as our Worship Leader in August and we launched in September. One of the first things he asked to see was what we had for sound. I showed him our $800 investment, his immediate response was a giggle and a reply, “So, how much money do we have?” We used that sound equipment for a couple of months or more until Jonothan sold his personal motorcycle and used the money to buy a very nice sound board and two very nice speakers.

We were also fortunate to have received a phone call from a guy who I had only talked with a couple of times on the phone and connected with through the internet. His church had some equipment they were not going to be using for a while, so they loaned it to us (cafe items, lights, children’s stuff, etc). This was huge because we couldn’t afford any of it.

I can go on and on and on and tell story after story of small and big risks we took and how we shouldn’t even be breathing as a church. If it were up to the belief others had in us, we’d be dead. However, there is only one thing I have had to cling to over the last 18+ months, this is what I know God called me to do.

Sure we aren’t running thousands of people. This isn’t an Elevation story. This is the story of New Passion in Grovetown, Georgia that has about 15,000 residents. We’ve seen God take a team of 35, most of which have gone back to their own churches, and turned it into a weekly average of around 110 (including children), he took a group of nine people $5,000 in debt to a church that is averaging approximately $6,000 per month in giving (which could literally be doubled if more people would embrace Biblical Giving). We’ve already been able to send more financial support to two churches each, one in Baltimore, MD and the other in Surfside Beach, SC, than we received total from any other church to help us. Most importantly, we’re seeing lives changed by the gospel

God is literally building this church in such a way that only he can get the glory. There is still a lot of stuff we cannot do as a church, but we will be able to in God’s timing. I have nothing to complain about, I can only stand amazed at what God has done in 18 short months.

Happy 18 months New Passion. May God continue to always receive the glory from our church.

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Love Wins by Rob Bell, My Thoughts and Opinions

March 15, 2011 By nick 11 Comments

I love Rob Bell and all of my friends who agree with him and the views that he proposes in his new book Love Wins which releases today. However, I disagree with Rob Bell and I would have to disagree with my friends who agree with the views he proposes in his new book. However, despite my disagreement, Love should Win among us all, and we should not allow our disagreements, no matter how deep they are to divide our love for one another. The moment your beliefs steal your love your beliefs becomes your god.

(UPDATED) Note: I have started reading the book, but am not finished, so far everything in the post stands true. I HAVE NOT read Rob Bell’s new book. I am was solely basing my opinion on three things: 1) The reviews from supporters of Rob Bell’s book and the reviews from non-supporters of the book (overall, the reviews agree on what’s being said on the content, but the disagreement comes in the beliefs of the theology and subject matter). 2) Rob Bell’s own views expressed in his interviews. 3) The pre-video released by Rob Bell to promote the book. 4) The theology of Universalism (in general)

Here are some of my major disagreements and initial thoughts on the subject. I’ll start with the most top disagreements in case you stop reading :)

The Chasm

No one can disregard the parable by Jesus, because it’s Jesus talking. I hear people all the time wanting to disregard words by Paul and others because it wasn’t Jesus, however this Scripture is from Jesus, so it carries a lot of weight.

Luke 16:19-31 is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Why is this so important to Rob’s new book, Love Wins? Well, Rob said himself that he does not believe that Hell is locked from the outside, rather some people create Hell here on Earth while they are other people’s Hell. He also expressed views that painted Hell as a temporary place, a time-out, if you will. To Rob and his supporters it is a place that people choose to go until they are willing to view God for who he is and at that point, because Love Wins, they are free from their Hell. For Rob, Hell is not a permanent place.

Yet, the Bible and Jesus refute this view in Luke 16:19-31. In this parable the rich man goes to Hell and is in torment. He is suffering to the place where he requests that Abraham would send Lazarus to him to just give him a drop of water. Abraham refuses and says that Lazarus is with him being comforted while the Rich man was there in torment. He expresses even if they wanted to, they couldn’t because there is a great chasm separating them.  The rich man then requests for Abraham to send someone from the dead, like Moses, to WARN his family of the pending torment of Hell.

There are three main issues here that must be focused on:

  1. The rich man being in torment would have done anything and everything possible to get out of Hell being in the anguish and torment (flames) that he was in. He would have no problem at this point seeing God for who he really was and repenting to leave Hell.
  2. Abraham says that there is a great chasm separating the two places and neither groups can get to each other even if they wanted to. This is the most destructive truth to Rob’s viewpoint of an open door Hell.
  3. Notice the rich man did not ask Abraham to send him from Hell. He knew there was no escape and no way to leave, or he would have. He asked that Abraham would send someone from his side.

I don’t believe Rob leaves so many questions open ended because he is genuinely asking the question for his own benefit. He is asking the question to point people in the direction he believes, as well, he is painting a picture of those who disagree with him as being hateful towards him and attacking him. This is not true. I disagree with him but I am not attacking him. However, since we are asking questions, shouldn’t this one be asked and answered? What about the Chasm?

Hyper-Calvinist without the Calvinist

The Hyper-Calvinist that I know do not believe in evangelism. Why? Because in the end they believe that God’s elect are going to be chosen regardless and through His own means God is going to redeem those who he has predestined to be saved. Rob Bell’s view is not much different, he’s just promoting that EVERYONE is predestined because Love Wins and it would be unjust for God to allow anyone to go to Hell if he is love. There’s only one problem with this reverse Hyper-Calvinism and with Hyper-Calvinism while we are at it:

Romans 10:13-15 – Not only must a person have faith in Jesus alone for their salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), but they must call on the name of the Lord to be saved. Romans goes on to say that how can someone believe on a person they don’t know about and how can they know about someone they’ve never heard about. Beautiful are the feet of those who go and share the Good News of Jesus. This would be a moot point if in the end, someone can make a final decision that they were wrong this entire time and they need to believe on Jesus for their salvation. The need for the message of the Good News would be pointless and void because in the end, everyone (or for the Hyper-Calvinist, the elect) will be saved. Basically this view is saying we can be lazy and silent about Jesus because in the end Love Wins anyway.

Martyrs and Missionaries Must Be the Stupidest People on the Planet

If Love Wins as Rob Bell sees it and everyone ends up in Heaven anyway, then he just made Martyrs and Missionaries the stupidest people on the planet. Why would anyone risk their life or give up their life preaching a message that in the end doesn’t matter much for the people of other faiths who have good intentions, but just doesn’t happen to use the name Jesus when they refer to their god? I work for a church who supports a lot of missionaries. Some of these missionaries cannot have their names or locations printed in any material or posted on the internet because their lives are in such danger. What stupid people! Pack-up and come home, live life, have fun, enjoy every minute of it, and let God woo those people in the end.

How does this view of an empty or an open, non-permanent Hell, with an afterlife decision opportunity not diminish the gospel and the work of Christ here and now? How does this view not diminish the commission of Jesus himself to “go make disciples?” Do those of us who are able to lead people to Christ here and save God that extra work get some kind of prize in the end? Rob’s view, in my humble opinion, just keeps unraveling for me.

Hints of Mormonism

I guess if other religions despite their belief in the actual Jesus is acceptable in the end, then, it is also okay to grab a few ideas from the Mormon religion. From my understanding, Mormons believe that there are second chances after death as well. Of course there is some temple work that has to be done on the part of the persons loved one, but regardless, death is not the end, it is the beginning. People who hold a traditional view of the gospel message is being painted by Rob Bell as being closed minded and unwilling to accept new ideas about a progressive faith, he even gives a slight pity party to say how people hate him and are attacking him, which I have not seen. However, I believe what I believe because I have studied it out #1 for myself and it stands firm on Scripture. The question I have is this, “Where is there any hint of a second chance in the afterlife to choose Jesus or to see God for who he really is, anywhere in the Bible?” “Where did Jesus even hint at such a possibility?” Rob says he wants to have a conversation on these issues, so in my conversation, I would like these questions answered.

The Bottom Line

It wasn’t a day after the first blog popped up declaring that Rob Bell may be a Universalist, that those from Rob’s viewpoint started saying that people like myself only believe in Hell because it gives us permission to hate our enemies and that we have a twisted viewpoint to want there to be a full Hell, etc. I’ve never heard something  more outrageous in my life!!! I believe in a literal, hot, tormenting Hell, and I don’t believe there is a second chance after this life to choose Jesus. That’s why the reality of Hell must be preached here and that’s why the gospel must be preached now. I don’t want a full Hell, but that’s what I believe it will be if we become silent about Jesus and the gospel and if we start telling people to live life to its fullest now because in the end there is no way a loving God is going to let them go to Hell, so they can choose Him anytime they want. If I hated my enemy, this is the message I would preach. If I hated my enemy, why would I want to warn them about Hell? See how dumb that accusation is?

Love Wins because God loved a world full of people who took the perfect gift he gave us and we rebelled against him and through our sin we broke his ideal plan. Through this love of His, he sent the perfect sacrifice through his son, Jesus, so that all those who believe in him, would be redeemed. It would be disgraceful to call this act by God hate and it would diminish God’s power to say it’s not good enough and that we need an after-death grace period because the time on Earth He gave us was not long enough. Rob Bell wants to talk about Hell limiting the power & love of God, however, saying that a person cannot come to faith in the lifespan God gave them, would diminish God even more.

I may be totally wrong about Rob Bell’s views on this matter once I read the book, but based on his own answers in his interview and the reviews from those who both agree and disagree with him, I believe I am completely accurate. If I find I am wrong I will apologize and correct it as emphatically as I have dismissed it.

**Also, please note, I have not and am not attacking Rob Bell or those who agree with him, I have simply pointed out some of the areas where we disagree, Love Wins**

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Pivot Points

February 7, 2011 By nick 3 Comments

piv·ot point: The point at which something pivots, changes, or turns (my definition)

This Sunday we kickoff our new marriage campaign I DO…Not Anymore at New Passion. As I’ve been preparing for the messages I was thinking about some of the pivot points in my own marriage. Nicki and I got married young and we face our share of struggles, but by God’s grace we celebrated 10 years of marriage last November. Throughout this series I will post about some of these pivot points we’ve made that were positive moves in our marriage.

This first pivot point was a subtle change that we felt led to make early in our marriage but the results and benefits of this change have lasted us and have been experienced over and over throughout our marriage.

PIVOT POINT #1: Shifted from tithing on our net income to our gross income.

Money has never really been an issue of contention with Nicki and me (We’ve had short spats, but no big brawls). When we first got married we had plenty of money. We never questioned how we were going to pay our bills and the term “pay check to pay check” was foreign to us. We always had money in the bank, we had new(er) cars and a nice house.

But, everything has to change at some point right? The life of financial ease would not last very long.

We were giving a tithe to God. A tithe is 10% of the income God provides to us. However, we were giving a tithe on our net income, meaning that when we got paid we were giving Blue Cross Blue Shield their share first, the U.S. Government their share second, and then God 10% of what was left over.

We heard a pastor preach a message about the tithe being the first fruit and how it should be our response to God’s goodness to us. In worshiping God through our tithe our best would be giving back to him that first fruit from the total of what he has blessed us with. I had never really been taught what was what. I had friends who were giving their tithe after paying all of their bills. This message not only struck home with Nicki and me, but also with some of our friends.

Nicki and I decided that we were going to start worshiping God with our tithe from the gross of what he had blessed us with. Because symbolically, we wanted God to be first in our money and first in our home. This was the best way we could demonstrate this to God.

A Back Story – - – (I am not presenting a prosperity gospel) – - I believe when we did this God communicated something to us. Here’s how. I had a four wheeler that I bought but never got to ride. So, I placed it in the IWANTA to sell it. Several weeks had passed and I heard nothing. The day Nicki and I decided to start tithing on our gross (with the right motivations) I had a phone call from a guy wanting to see the four wheeler. The next day he was at my house looking at it. I tried to start it three times and it wouldn’t start. On the fourth attempt it started. The guy bought the four wheeler that day and didn’t even try to negotiate a lower price.

Does this mean that if we tithe on our gross or tithe at all that God will always act on our behalf and become our personal genie? No! In fact, the impression that I felt God was communicating to me at that moment was this, “If you put me first in everything, I will take care of you (not give me what I want).” Since that day, we followed through with our goal of having Nicki stay at home with the children (up until last year she started working part time at a gift shop). Honestly, we have faced some very dark financial issues since this pivotal day in our marriage. We have had challenges as a family. But God, has sustained us. Are we rich? By America’s standards, no. According to the world’s standards, yes! Do we have the nicest material possessions because of this pivot point? No. Do we have everything together as a family? Far from it. The reality is, this pivot point was not a magic pill to give us everything we wanted.

This pivot point was our communicating and committing to God that he was first in our marriage, our finances and in our home. Even when we didn’t have the money to pay the bills, we put God first. It has not always been easy. But there are undeniable, obvious finger prints of God on my household because he has taken care of us in good times and in bad.

In addition, because we learned these principles in our marriage, they play a huge role at New Passion as well. It was set in our DNA from the very beginning that we would put God first in the church’s finances by giving at least a tithe as a church to missions. God has honored this commitment.

Join the Conversation…Have you had to come to a pivot point in your marriage with God and finances?

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The Attitude of Gratitude

August 30, 2010 By nick 9 Comments

We are in-between sermon series at New Passion, so yesterday I did a solo message on the Attitude of Gratitude. Generic, I know.

However, the title is all telling. I believe when we are grateful, it changes our attitude towards God and towards other people. I shared at the end of the message a list of people I am grateful for at New Passion, I also shared a video that convicted me in areas I had been ungrateful (It’s definitely a must see video by Pete Wilson: Watch  HERE – *Correction from the message: It was not India, it was a house in the Dominican Republic).

Think about it:

  • How would our attitude about the job we hate change if you realized there are millions of people without a job and became grateful that we at least have a job?
  • How would our attitude about our difficult children change if we realized that some people can’t have kids or have lost their child at an early age and were grateful that we’ve been blessed with the children we have?
  • How would our attitude about what God’s not given us change if we became grateful that he’s already given us everything we need?
  • How would our attitude about…Change?

So, if you were at New Passion this past Sunday or if you weren’t, continue the conversation and share a little of what you are grateful for:

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God, Hurry Up!

July 6, 2010 By nick Leave a Comment

I loved today’s entry from Oswald Chambers. I find myself too often wanting God to hurry up and fulfill the vision he’s given me, whether it be for my family, for my church, or for myself personally. I’ve had a new hunger and longing lately, one that I’ve never had before and today, I think I see that it is God getting me into shape for the goal he has for me. I’ve heard similar things from some of our New Passion team. They are longing for God to show up in a fresh and powerful way; first personally then corporately. I’m excited that God has us on the same page and I cannot wait (although he wants me to wait) to see God continue to unfold his plan in us and through us.

Check out the devotional from today:

Visions Become Reality

The parched ground shall become a pool . . . Isaiah 35:7

We always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us. When we realize that the vision is real, but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations, and we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.

Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And battered by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.

God gives us a vision, and then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we will only have patience. Just think of the enormous amount of free time God has! He is never in a hurry. Yet we are always in such a frantic hurry. While still in the light of the glory of the vision, we go right out to do things, but the vision is not yet real in us. God has to take us into the valley and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the point where He can trust us with the reality of the vision. Ever since God gave us the vision, He has been at work. He is getting us into the shape of the goal He has for us, and yet over and over again we try to escape from the Sculptor’s hand in an effort to batter ourselves into the shape of our own goal.

The vision that God gives is not some unattainable castle in the sky, but a vision of what God wants you to be down here. Allow the Potter to put you on His wheel and whirl you around as He desires. Then as surely as God is God, and you are you, you will turn out as an exact likeness of the vision. But don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.

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What Lion Do You Need to Chase?

June 7, 2010 By nick Leave a Comment

I absolutely loved this message by Craig Groeschel that we at New Passion opened our One Prayer series with this past Sunday. It’s called “Unstoppable Courage” and it hits home because I have some friends right now who are staring some Lions in the face and they are either going to have to decide to chase the Lion and kill it, or allow the Lion to destroy them. I pray they have their eyes opened to how big their God is:

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God Doesn’t Deserve My Best

March 16, 2010 By nick 1 Comment

trophy gold“God doesn’t deserve my best,” is exactly what we say when we as “Christ Followers” decide to be consumers rather than contributors. I listened to a message by Perry Noble the other day from NewSpring’s Practical Atheist series. He referenced the verses where Cain and Abel present their offerings to the Lord and how Cain just gave some of his crops as  an offering to the Lord, while Abel gave his first and best lamb as an offering. While the main point of Perry’s usage of the Scripture was to point out that the tithe did not go away with the law since it was present 500+ years before the law was given, something different stood out to me.

I’ve practically grown up in church. I’ve been a ministry leader, staff, volunteer, and a plain ‘ol church attender. I’ve heard messages on giving and tithing several times in the past, but nothing has prepared me for the harsh reality that there are more Christians like Cain than there are like Abel in most churches. I remember hearing about Cain as a child in our Bible stories. He got a bad rap, I guess it stemmed mostly from him murdering Abel. But the more I think about it, there is more focus put on his being a murderer than there is his attitude that God did not deserve his best. I wonder if we  avoid that foundational truth because its our attitude too? I wonder if that’s why people church hop and get angry when the pastor preaches on giving and money? Could it be because their attitude is that God does not deserve their best?

This verse has never stuck out to me until I looked at it over the weekend, check it out…

“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” Genesis 4:6-7

What was the right thing in this situation? Abel’s income came through being a shepherd. Cain’s income came through harvesting the land. Both brought an offering to the Lord, because the Lord had blessed them both with a profit and a means of living. The difference is, Abel brought his first and his best to God, Cain just brought a random selection, but it was definitely not his best. God’s response was that Cain would be accepted if he only did what was right. Cain knew what was right, but his attitude directed his actions. He did not feel God deserved his best, therefore he did not give God his best. The biggest part of this verse to me is where God points out, that sin is crouching at Cain’s door waiting to control him because he lacked the heart to put God first and to give him his best.

There are Christians all over the world who do this all the time. They won’t or they can’t give God their best because they are driving it, or living in it, or wearing it. There are Christians all over the world who want to tell the church what they want to consume from the church, but they refuse to contribute to the vision God has given the church.

Matthew 6:21 says, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.“

I believe that is what God was telling Cain in Genesis. Watch out! Sin will control your desires when God does not deserve the first and best of your treasures.

Are there areas in your life or in the life of your family that sin has control of? It may start with your desire to be a consumer rather than a contributor and the attitude that God does not deserve your best!

Just a thought!

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If Your Scars Could Speak

March 1, 2010 By nick Leave a Comment

cuttingscarsEveryone has scars.

Some are physical, while others are emotional and mental.

I have a scar in the bend of my right arm. I was around 5 years old and my mom had to stop by my grandma’s house, she told me to stay in the car while she quickly ran in. My sister had a better idea, I should get out of the car and call our friend Nikki (No, not my wife Nicki) to come to the fence, where we used to play and talk. I guess I figured by climbing the fence Nikki would hear me better, so I started to climb the fence to yell out her name, I got it out nice and loud one time, and then my foot slipped. This was an old school security fence with the two metal spikes sticking out of the top, not the modern day safety kind with the knots. My arm went right through the fence like a warm knife through butter. The next noise I made was a scream for my mom, she had to lift me off the fence, as I was dangling there from my arm. I don’t think I got a spanking for disobeying on that occasion, I guess my mom thought my lesson had been learned. My scar tells a story of how mom’s know what’s best for her children, and how children should obey their mom’s.

I have three scars from an emergency appendectomy. They tell numerous stories.

I wonder, if your physical, emotional, or mental scars could speak, what would they say?

Yesterday, at New Passion, we focused on how our life stories are intended to bring God glory. Everyone’s life story contains some type of wound. We tend to want to hide those elements of our story. We like to tell the good stuff, like when we met our significant other, or when our child was born, or we’ll tell about the time we landed that dream job.

However, I believe God wants our life story to tell of His story. One of the ways he does that is through our scars. Scars tell powerful stories. They tell an even more powerful story about God, if  we let it.

We cannot have a scar unless we first had a wound that has been healed.

God wants to heal our wounds (emotional, physical, mental) so that, our life story can tell his story. Even the difficult things in life that we experience are not about us, they are about God. 2 Corinthians 5:18 says, “…God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.” I believe one way we are able to reconcile people back to God is by not covering up our scars, but rather let them tell a story…the story of how God healed them. Have you ever considered, that the story of how God redeemed & healed you, may be the very help the next person needs who is carrying around the same wound you once carried? It may be that you are still walking around with open wounds, and you need God to heal you first?

Join the Conversation…What is a story your scar could tell?

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