Francis is passionate about God and His glory. Anyone having ever reading his books or listened to his messages would confirm that fact.

Francis started with a confession. He struggles with being present. (The theme of this week’s conference.)

Has that ever been you? (I’m guilty of that.)

Francis says, “There’s nothing worse than having a conversation with someone who is not present.”

The title Catalyst gave Francis for his talk: His presence matters...

Francis wondered, as He reflected on what he called “the understatement of the year”…

Does anything else matter?

Then Francis Chan shared some nuggets of thoughts on the presence of God in our life:

• Right now, if God decided to make His presence known, isn’t that all that would matter?
• When God’s presence is here, amazing things happens.
• “The Spirit gives life…the flesh is no help at all.” John 6:63
• David, after an enemy took his wife and children captive, the people were tempted to stone him because of what happened…how did David respond? He strengthened himself in the Lord…1 Samuel 30:1-6 (How would I respond?)
• One thing I have asked, and one thing that I seek… to dwell in the House of the Lord. Psalm 27
• Satan knows everything depends on my relationship with God, so if he can distract me…
• Are you present enough in your prayer life that He actually hears you?

Wow, I’ve been challenged in my walk with Christ! Thanks Francis!

I’ve watched fear keep many people from achieving all God would have them achieve. I’ve watched fear keep a guy from pursuing the girl of his dreams. I’ve watched fear drive people to the safe side, rather than to assume the risk required to pursue their dreams.

Fear is the enemy of progress. Fear is the antagonist of pursuit. Fear is the foe of fulfillment in life.

What can we do about fear? How can we overcome the dreaded fear?

I don’t know that we can completely…or that we even want to completely…but I think we need to learn to manage the fear in our life. Hopefully this post can help.

Next time you are faced with a seemingly uncontrollable fear…

Ask yourself these 7 questions:

Is it a God-given or a man-made fear? - Fear is an emotion and God can use fear to keep you from harm. Is what you would be doing against God’s will for you or others? If it’s wrong to do, no wonder you are afraid. God may be trying to protect you. If you are continually making bad decisions in your life, you’ll likely live in fear. You may not even be able to understand the emotion, but in my experience, it’s one way God draws His children to Himself. Failure to walk by faith, which is a sin by the way, can also bring upon the emotion of fear. If you’re fear is from God…obey God! That’s your answer every time.

Is it a rational or an irrational fear? - Consider whether you are basing your fears on fact or fiction. Are you making up the scenario of what could go wrong or is the fear based on real information you have? Be honest with yourself here. If you’ve been making up the excuses, dismiss them and proceed.

Is it probable or improbable? - The truth is that most of what we fear never comes true. Our mind is capable of all kinds of worst-case scenarios that keep us from moving forward. We shouldn’t allow fear in things that will probably never even happen stop the progress God may want to bring in our life. The fact is you may fail, but remember, failure is a part of building life experience. Unless you know you’re going to fail (which is highly unlikely) I suggest you move forward.

Can anything be done to diminish the risk? - We should attempt to diminish fear through planning and preparation as much as possible. There is nothing wrong and everything right about being prepared. I’m not motivated by fear, but I have an alarm system at my house. (And a shotgun! ) If your fear is based on a lack of preparation, get busy developing the systems and strategies to help you succeed.

Is what I’m fearing necessary or unnecessary? - Is this something you must address? If it’s a conflict you’ve been avoiding, for example, the fear will only get stronger the longer you wait. The earlier you face the fear the more likely you’ll get positive results. Sooner or later, the fear must be faced. What better time than now?

Is the fear personal or impersonal? – Are you afraid of your abilities or the reaction of others? Do you wonder if you have what it takes? It’s only natural that a challenge would create an amount of fear…even a captivation with fear. Every act of courage means you ignore an aspect of fear. Don’t let your insecurities keep you from achieving your dreams.

Are you satisfied with the status quo? - I know it’s a hard question, but if fear is keeping you from moving forward, and you’ve answered the other questions, this may be the one. You need to strongly consider the repercussions of giving into your fear. It may mean you stand still. It may mean you go backwards. It may mean you never realize the dreams you have for your life or the calling God has placed upon you. Are you willing to live with that?

Share your story. Have you allowed fear to keep you from realizing all God has for you? What would you add to my list? 

Yesterday we launched a new series called Necessary Roughness. It’s a unique series for us. I wrote about it HERE.

Week one we addressed the issue of communication in relationships. You can watch that message here:

Communication from Gcomchurch Sermons on Vimeo.

Question: What is your number one struggle with communicating effectively?

Everyone loves compliments…me included. I received a compliment this weekend from someone who met me for the first time and it was so encouraging. It reminded me of some of my favorite compliments I have received.

Here are my 7 favorite compliments to receive as a pastor:

“You hang out just like a regular guy” - Thanks. Pretty much I am a regular guy. Full of mistakes, fears, frustrations and heartache. I’m also capable of disappointing you. I hope I never do, but remember…I’m just a regular guy.

“You seem pretty normal for a pastor” - I’ll take that as a compliment, although anyone who would plant a church is probably not “normal”. You just haven’t been exposed to abnormal yet. Just wait.

“I can understand you when you preach” - Well, good I’ve succeeded. Of course, you could be saying I’m simple-minded, but I’d own that statement too. “Jesus loves me” still blows my mind.

“I saw you running…you’re really fast!” – Okay, maybe not so much on the fast part…but I run long distances ) Seriously, I love when people recognize and acknowledge me outside of Sunday.

“You were speaking just to me today” - It may appear that way and I’m glad you took it personal. Sometimes though I’m staring into the lights and can’t see anyone…but if the shoe fits with today’s message, you have my permission to wear it.

“Thank you for being real” - Seriously, I try. Honestly I don’t have a choice. When you’ve found yourself on the bottom so many times you begin to be comfortable there, but you certainly aren’t comfortable trying to be someone you’re not. So I’m just “keeping it real”.

“Your church is always helping the community” - Thanks! That’s our goal. (I realize it’s not “my” church, but that’s what they say.) Thank you for recognizing one of our values is actually being accomplished. We are here to serve!

“Where’s Cheryl?” – People are always looking for my wife on Sunday. I love that my church loves my wife as much…okay…more than me. Seriously, I know so many pastors who wished their wives were active in their ministry. I’m blessed. Also, if you do get mad at me…since I’m just a regular and normal guy…at least you’ll keep coming because you love my wife. She never makes anyone mad. (Not even me )

Go ahead a brag a little…What’s your favorite compliment you receive?

In the day of health and fitness awareness, when restaurants seem more intent on offering healthy alternatives, and gyms are on every corner; when organic is the buzz word…

Are we healthier than we once were?

I don’t know…but I found an article I read recently in Delta Sky Magazine interesting.

Comparing numbers then and now, here’s what our diet looks like:

Then:

Pounds of cheese eaten per capita in 1909… 4

Now:

Pounds of cheese eaten per capita in 2000… 32

Then:

Food items at the supermarket in 1978… 10,425

Now:

Food items at the supermarket in 2008… 46,852

Then:

Percentage of obese adolescent children in 1970… 5%

Now:

Percentage of obese adolescent children in 2010… 17%

Then:

Carbohydrates consumed by the average person per day in 1970… 389 grams

Now:

Carbohydrates consumed by the average person per day in 2000… 490 grams

Then:

Fats and oils consumed per capita in 1909… 41 lbs.

Now:

Fats and oils consumed per capita in 2000… 79 lbs.

Then:

Percent of calories eaten away from home in 1977… 18%

Now:

Percent of calories eaten away from home in 1996… 32%

What does this mean? What do you make of these numbers? In the age of diets and health kicks, are we any healthier? What do you think?

Answer this: Are you more conscious about what you eat now than you were 10 years ago? Be honest!

There’s coming a day…

You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!

Isaiah 55:12

Anytime this week you need a smile…remember this week’s memory verse.

What thoughts come to mind when you think of eternity?

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”

1 Corinthians 2:9

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.

Romans 8:18

When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

John 14:3

Are you ready? 

Over the years, I’ve observed countless people who become derailed by the circumstances of life. Speaking as one who has failed many times, the key to long-term success is often in how you respond during the darkest days of your life.

I’ve always enjoyed the advice God gave His people when they were in captivity by a rival nation. Immediately before He told them they would be in captivity for 70 years, He told them to:

“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Jeremiah 29:5-7

He told them to keep living! In time (70 years in this case), He would deliver them, but in the meantime, they were to live life as they already knew to live.

By the way, that’s the passage from which we get a favored verse…one we love to cling to and offers us hope:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

If you are in a season of captivity…if you can’t seem to find your way these days…if you are waiting for God to deliver you…don’t stop doing the good things you know to do. Don’t stop moving forward with what you have today. Don’t neglect the relationships you have now during your mourning of the relationship that you’ve lost. Seek ways to bless others as you wait for your blessing.

Don’t give up! Push forward, clinging to your faith, while you wait for God’s deliverance.

What you do and how you respond during the difficult days often determine the degree of success and enjoyment of the good days. Learning to navigate through droughts, disappointments and failure is a key towards enjoying the best of life and living as a person of faith.

Are you in a period of captivity? What keeps you moving forward these days?

This is a guest post by author and pastor Drew Snider. Drew is an online friend. He’s an evangelist and assistant pastor at Gospel Mission on Vancouver’s Downtown East Side…and a self-proclaimed recovering broadcaster. 

New on Amazon Kindle: A Very Convenient Truth

Former Vice-President Al Gore recently held a 24-hour TV event about the current state of global warming/climate change, and his former boss, Bill Clinton, told a gathering in New York City in September that “green” industries need billions of dollars of investment in order to succeed and, presumably, save the planet.

News about global warming/climate change is invariably bad, whether it’s coming from the scientists warning us that things keep getting worse and governments aren’t doing or spending enough to fight it, or from those who deny there’s a problem, who say the economy will tank if the measures the environmentalists demand are adopted. A Very Convenient Truth – now available on Amazon Kindle — sets out to break us out of the cycle of Doomspeak, personal attacks and confusion.

A Very Convenient Truth takes the position that Christians – in fact, anyone who believes in the One True God of Israel – hold a significant trump card, which makes all that Doomspeak and the worry and fear that goes with it an absolute non-starter. The Word of God, after all, is nothing but good news: you just have to look for it. The book neither denies the issue nor takes the position of the True Believer, but as you consider God’s promise about “the land” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14), you realize that God has already given us the answers. Anyone can pursue them, they don’t cost a cent and they don’t involve serving the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).

Part of this “very convenient truth” is that there is an original environmental sin that a lot of us have a hard time recognizing, largely for the same reason that people have a hard time recognizing any sin as their own; also because the world has made the effects of that sin appear to be insurmountable. But for someone who’s in Christ, there is also another Truth: that Jesus’ sacrifice allows us to repent and get on the right track.

A Very Convenient Truth also reminds us that things that are attributed to “global warming” have actually been foretold for thousands of years and that trying to fight against these signs puts us in opposition to God’s Will – very dangerous territory, indeed.

For Christians, the book contains a challenge; God’s promises are always yea and Amen: do you believe that when it comes to the environment, too?  For environmentalists, the challenge is, are you broad-minded enough to consider a different approach?

But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. (Acts 8:3 ESV)

By the way, that’s the verse right before Saul was confronted by Jesus and set aside for ministry. You probably know the rest of that story. Jesus called Paul to Himself as Paul was at his lowest point in sin against God and His people.

When I read this passage again recently, I was reminded of an important truth:

Every believer has a former life…

The person you were before Christ…

The things you wish you’d never done…

That season you’re often embarrassed about today…

The life you attempt to hide…

Those moments whose memories still haunt you…

The sin you may even be tempted with at times today…

Your former life…

You had one…

Everyone does…

Maybe we should stop trying to hide the facts and start allowing God to use us…all of us…for His good…

Go ahead…be honest…do you have a former life?