Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:27 NIV

Imaginary dialogue between a husband and a wife:

“Honey, let’s get that box out of the attic.”

“Alright then, now we’re getting somewhere. Help me get down that list.”

Could you make a list of dreams, or things you’ve tried at and failed at before? What has been impossible for you?

Go ahead and make the list, then give it to God.   (For further clarification, you may want to read this POST or this POST)

Sometimes I need to get away from the usual crowds, take over my pastor hat, and sit in the audience and glean. Today was one of those days and I am thankful for the blessing.

Cheryl and I are on vacation in the Southwest. First stop was Albuquerque, NM for the annual balloon festival. We spent Saturday looking at hundreds of beautiful hot air balloons and returned this morning for another look. We left in time to catch the middle service of a great church, Sagebrush Community Church. Pastor Todd Cook was ending a series called “Heart” and shared a message that encouraged us to be encouragers. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

I have to be honest. When I first sat and looked at the program for the day and saw that the speaker was going to talk about encouragement, I wasn’t too excited. I’m a strategy guy, not a touchy feely guy. I like purpose, drive, and conviction. I wouldn’t be the first person one would think of when it came to the topic of encouragement. (In my family that would be Cheryl or Jeremy.)

As I sat and listened to Todd, who is a gifted speaker and storyteller, I was personally convicted. You see, I’ve been so busy with my strategy and purpose-driven, stress-filled life lately, that I am afraid I have often forgotten my first calling. I am a pastor. I am to help people move from death to life, from heartache and despair to trust and obedience. That process often doesn’t begin with a strategy. It begins when one person befriends another person, invests in them, and ENCOURAGES him or her to walk in a new way. Lately I am not sure that has been as much of my focus as leading and managing a church. I received “encouragement” today to take a fresh look at how I approach my days.

I am not saying I am giving up my strategy. I am not wired that way and frankly God uses me in that setting. I will never be a Barnabas. I will never be as considerate and caring as my wife. She balances me that way, but I do need to slow down more. I do need to take more time with the smallest needs. I need to be more people-centered. After all, that is the ultimate purpose of my calling.

Thanks Todd for encouraging me today to be a better encourager. God used you greatly in this season of my life.

(By the way, I met Todd after the service, and even though he is pastor of a large church and preaches 5 services each weekend, he treated me so warmly. He certainly did not make me feel I was an interruption. In this too, he gave me a wonderful reminder and encouragement.  You can here his message from today HERE.)

As a church planter concerned about spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but consistently meeting people who have no interest in what they believe Christianity to be, this appears to be an important movie. My friend Michael Hyatt was the first to recommend this movie, which would be enough to encourage me to watch it. After watching the trailer, there is no question I will put this movie on my “must see” list.

Have you seen this movie? What do you think after watching the trailer?

I read a strong reminder for those of us that have the responsibility of preaching God’s Word, but I think it’s applicable for all of us. These are Jesus words to us from The Message Version.

But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
What you have is all you’ll ever get.
And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
Your self will not satisfy you for long.
And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.
There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.
“There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular. Luke 6:24-26 (The Message Version)

Is that as clear to you as it is to me?

Occasionally people quote a common saying and ask me where it’s found in the Bible.  I don’t enjoy being the one to tell them that what they have always believed is Biblical, really is just a repeated saying among well meaning people.  My favorite is “God will not put more trials on you than you can bear”.  It certainly sounds good, but that is not exactly what the Bible says.   I wrote a post you might read about that HERE.

Another myth people often say is “God helps those who help themselves.” I would point out the Scripture that says this, but I have not found it. In fact, I think I’m safe in saying that I haven’t found it, because it isn’t there.

While the message sounds good, we need to understand that the only thing we can do to help ourselves so that God will help us is to put our trust in Him to help us! Did I lose you on that one? God wants to help His children. God’s love causes Him to want to bless His children. The thing inside of us, which welcomes His favor, is the love He has for us and the love we have for His Son, not what we have done to help ourselves.

Moses told the Israelites once, before they went into battle, “The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14)  Sometimes our job is not to “help ourselves”, but to be still before the Lord and wait on Him to work His perfect plan in our life.

Perhaps you have been trying to “help yourself” so that God would “help you”. Why not be still, do nothing, wait on the Lord, and let Him help you, in His timing and with His plan, just because you are His child?    The greatest way you can help yourself, might be to humble yourself before the God who wants to bless you. (1 Peter 5:6)

It was a tough day. A couple weeks ago my office seemed to have a revolving door. We have so much activity and excitement in the church right now, but the normal demands of ministry have not slowed to allow margin for the extra work required of me. In the midst of administrative and managerial responsibilities I also encountered a number of hurting people. I was confronted several times with issues where another person had wronged one person and they wanted me to help them change the other person they sense was mistreating them. It has always fascinated me when people expect the pastor to enforce morals on people in order to change them.

One of the principles I have learned in life and ministry is that RULES NEVER CHANGE PEOPLE. It doesn’t matter how many you have, how strictly you enforce them, or even how loyal people are to obey them. Rules alone never change a person. Rules are often necessary to protect people and bring order to chaos, but for people to change a heart has to change. Truth impacting a person’s heart changes people, not rules. I fully realize God uses people in this process, but I believe our role is more about directing people’s attention towards Christ, than it is enforcing their behavior.

The greatest role I have as a pastor, in my opinion, is to introduce people to the life-changing message of Jesus Christ, help them learn the truths of His Word, help them become growing followers of Christ (disciples), but then allow God’s Spirit to change their heart, which will ultimately change their life.

I am praying today for more opportunities to spur hearts towards the life-changing message of Christ.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 NIV

It is hard being the nice guy all the time, is it not? I have heard people ask, “Why do I always have to be the one to give?” I’ve heard that question relating to marriages, to parenting, and among friends. Sometimes it just seems that we are the only ones doing good unto others. I know that is not true, but it does feel that way at times. We sometimes start to feel that we are being taken advantage of, do we not?

Paul knew that feeling. Think of the cold nights he spent praying over the church, knowing all the while that many of them would not suffer for him as he was for them. He knew the struggles of building the first church, trying to start from nothing, while many others enjoy the freedom of “Sunday’s off”. A large portion of Paul’s letters is devoted to encouraging the believer to keep going!

May I offer you the same encouragement? Don’t give up! Keep doing the good you know you ought to do. Go the second mile in your Christian walk.  Keep serving others, even when it hurts or you feel unappreciated.  Not because everyone else is doing it, but because of the love you have for your Heavenly Father. Do it because it is the right thing to do. Do it because in the end, you will be rewarded for your faithfulness.

Though it may seem you are being taken for granted, or that no one really cares, remember that Jesus is watching. He’s keeping track and He’s building your reward accordingly. Hang in there! It will be worth it in the end!

This is video two from our student ministry mission trip to New Orleans.  God is using them this week.  As you know, this is my personal blog, so aside from my role as a pastor at Grace Community Church I am also a dad. I am very proud of Nate Edmondson this week. You’ll see him in this video several times in the gray shirt teaching with his hands.  He loves teaching God’s Word.  I love him loving to teach God’s Word.  God has great things planned for him.  He leaves in a few weeks for a new adventure at Moody Bible College.  Prayers appreciated…

But you, O God, DO see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Psalm 10:14 NIV

The man was really just trying to be nice. The cute little boy cowered, however, into his Daddy’s shoulder…..

I remember when my son was younger, three or less, and we would be in public and a stranger would come up to take notice of the cute little blonde in my arms. The more the person would try to get my son’s attention, the more my son would hide his face in my chest. We called it shyness, but it was really a son seeking protection in his father.

Do you ever have need to seek your Father’s protection?

We see so many hardships in life. We endure struggles and heartaches and are sometimes tempted to ask, “where is God in all this?” Often we fail to recognize God in the midst of trials.

May I assure you of something? God does see trouble and grief. He is not oblivious to our pain. He is carefully watching over His children. At just the right time, God will literally take our struggles in His mighty hand and lift us up out of our pit of despair.

The Psalmist talks about the victim. Have you ever felt like a victim? Do you often feel there is nowhere to turn?  God wants to protect His children. God is looking for victims who will call upon His name.

Climb into Daddy’s lap today! Rest your weary head on His powerful shoulders! Cast your burdens upon Him, because He cares for you! Tell Daddy you love Him and trust Him with all your heart! You might even want to read the Bible together.

Tell Him a little child sent you!

Spiritual growth of believers should be the goal of any church. We are to do attract unbelievers and introduce them to Christ, but the end goal according to the commands of Jesus is making disciples.   Yet spiritual growth is often hard to measure, messy and similar to raising children, a church can offer the same ministries and attention to a group of people and get extremely different results.

Right now there are people in my church at 3 stages of spiritual growth:

• Those that need to mature and are not maturing.
• Those that need to mature and have stalled.
• Those that need to mature and are maturing.

I suggest the same is true of your church. We rejoice in the last one, but if we are not careful we can allow the first two to discourage us and make us believe we are not doing what God has called us to do as a church.

It is helpful to me to put things in a strategic format, so here are 5 principles of spiritual growth or discipleship that apply to each of these three groups.

1. People are responsible for their spiritual growth. I am responsible to shepherd them, care for them, encourage them, instruct and teach them, but ultimately the believer holds the responsibility of their own growth.
2. Change is possible. Every believer has an opportunity and potential to experience spiritual growth. God wants to mature all believers. No one is left out of that plan.
3. Growth occurs best in community. The best spiritual growth in my life and in the life of others I have observed occurs when people are in committed, healthy and intentional relationships with other believers wanting to mature. Iron does sharpen iron. (At the same time, I have been in groups where some are growing and some are not, but that goes back to principle number one.)
4. Developing a person’s desire for spiritual growth is key. When a person gets excited about his or her personal walk with Christ and getting to know Christ better they are more likely to assume ownership of their growth.
5. The goal of the teacher/leader of spiritual growth should be to enable people to achieve spiritual growth. We should introduce them to Christ and God’s Spirit, teach them the basics of their faith, and then release them to serve, mature and grow in their spiritual life.

Please understand this is not a formula. Principles are not foolproof, but I believe these principles can help us see the process of discipleship in a more orderly fashion.

Do you agree with these principles? What would you add?