“Now there was a day…” Job 1:6, 13

Have you ever heard of the Bible character Job? You don’t have to be a Bible student or scholar to know the name Job. Usually it is applied to some of the hardest times of life…times that often seem to come suddenly and from nowhere. It’s a book of the Bible that many of us would avoid reading, especially if doing so means that we will have to live a “Job” kind of life. The book, however, has some valuable principles about life, faith, and God, because the truth is, all of us have seasons of life where we feel like Job is our story.

This week at Grace Community Church, we launch a series on the book of Job. We are encouraging our church to read Job during their quiet times this month, talk about it during small groups, and listen to teaching centered around the book each Sunday. There are 42 chapters in the book of Job and this is a 6-week series. That works perfectly to 1 chapter per day. This will be a great opportunity for our church to be unified around one book, one theme, and one direction in Scripture.

Have you ever had a “Job” experience or season in your life? Are you there now? What did you learn or are you learning about God during that period of life?

Perry Noble is raw. He’s funny. He speaks his heart, doesn’t hold anything back, and, best of all, he’s passionate about Jesus.

At Catalyst 2010, Perry talked through 1 Kings 17 and God’s dealing with Elijah. God fed him by the ravens. He provided for him, but then the brook dried up and Elijah had no water. Elijah was in a period of learning to trust God completely.

Perry had so many great one-liners to share I decided to list some of them here:

• God said, “It’s about time for a dumb redneck to get up and tell people about me.”
• God is often going to lead us places we don’t think we want to go but we are always glad once we are there.
• The best ministry advice I could give you: “Do what the Lord tells you.”
• The greatest thing that’s ever happened in our ministry is unexplainable because God did it.
• If you can explain what’s happening in your church God’s not doing it.
• How many times do you drive by McDonalds and wonder if their hiring? (Referring to how tough ministry is some days.)
• If you’re here and the brook is dry, God is not punishing you. He is preparing you for greater plans.
• God was saying to Elijah, even though the brook is dry…I am never dry.
• I’m a grave robbing, water walking God and I will never run dry!
• Why do we run from situations God reigns over?
• God has never given up on you, don’t you dare give up on Him

What a refreshing talk this was! I needed this! I hope you will order this talk.

Are you tempted to quit? Please know you are not alone. I’m praying for you.

POST UPDATE: I answered questions about this post HERE.

We announced today that Grace Community Church will become a multi-site church early in January 2011.  We will be one church meeting in two locations.  We are excited about what God is doing through us to reach people with the message of the grace of Jesus Christ.   (If you missed this message, be sure to check it out online HERE.  It should be up by Monday morning.)

Our second location will be at Kenwood High School.  Kenwood is ideally located in the center of an even larger population base than our current location.  In addition, Kenwood has an identical footprint to the school in which we currently meet.   It is closer to the military base, so has a larger presence of soldiers and families.  The principal is anxious for us to begin. We couldn’t be more excited about becoming a part of the Kenwood community.

If your church is currently doing multiple locations, we would love to learn from you.  What’s something you have learned that we need to be aware of before we begin?

Will you pray for us in this important transition?

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck! Psalm 69:1

This is my favorite safety pull verse! Helpful always, but especially in emergency situations…

Do you ever feel as though you are drowning?

This verse is for you…

A friend of mine has completed his schooling and now needs to find a job. He has poured everything into his work, and he is ready to go to work.  Having felt fully led of God to take the steps he has taken, now he needs to feed his family and can’t find a job, and he wants to trust God to work out the details, but he’s afraid.

I have a friend with cancer. She has worried about her families future should something happen to her.  She’s stressed about the demands of being a wife and mom when she is so tired. She’s trying to be faithful.

One friend’s marriage is falling apart around her. She’s tried to hold it together, but every day it seems more hopeless.  She needs God to change her husband’s heart and mind.

Another friend lost a child this year to a tragic death.  She’s trying to hold on to her faith, but struggling to pull all the pieces of her life together some days.

And those are just a few examples of where this prayer of David’s comes in handy. You and I will experience times in our life when we need saving…some of us feel that way every day…especially in certain seasons of life. Sometimes we need God to boldly enter into the situation! We need God to take over and do a quick miracle! We need deliverance! And fast!

God is never too slow…but then again…He is never too fast either. He is always…ALWAYS…right on time!

Come quickly God, and save us, the water has risen to flood stage!

For what in your life do you need to pray this prayer?

I am amazed at what God has done through the work of the people of Grace Community Church in the first five years. We celebrated that milestone last week, but tomorrow is a new day. The start of the next five years. As a natural dreamer, I can’t help but wonder what the next five years will bring.

The anniversary caused me to be reflective this week. I thought about some of the obedience of the people following God in Scripture:

• Noah did as the Lord commanded. Genesis 6:22
• Moses followed God even when it meant leaving the comforts of a king Hebrews 11:27
• Joshua did what the Lord commanded. Joshua 11:9
• Rahab sacrificed her life for the life of some Israelite spies Joshua 2
• Gideon led the people in spite of his weaknesses Judges 6-7

Throughout the Bible we find stories of people willing to risk everything they had to follow God, simply because He is God.

And, in turn, God seemed to favor and honor people who were obedient.

My time of reflection makes me want to obey Him even more. The question of what God will call me (us) to in the next 5 years is not near as important, at least from my perspective now, as the question of whether or not I will remain obedient…regardless of the risks and obstacles along the way.

What is God calling you to do? Will you be obedient?

Seriously….will you?

Here are today’s winners:

@claystorm

@rodseney

@kicktheball

@GlendaJohnson63

I have a couple more book giveaways coming up soon…stay tuned!

Today I’m super excited to give away four (4) copies of Mary Beth Chapman’s new book “Choosing to SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hope”.

Chapman is wife to singer and songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman. In this book, Chapman talks about how her role as the wife of her charismatic celebrity, which was never what she intended or even had planned for her life. Living outside her comfort zone was only heightened when in 2008, the tragic death of their five-year-old daughter, Maria, led to a deep inner heartache. This is the story of one family’s journey towards hope, faith, and love through the high and very low periods of life and about learning how to trust God in the worst of times.

If you would like to win a copy of this book:

1. RT this post with something such as “Free Friday giveaway by @RonEdmondson Details here: “
2. Comment on this post with your name. Make sure I have either a Twitter or email address.

After 9 PM tonight CST I will choose four (4) random winners using Random.org from the comments received.

You do not want to miss this book!

Just discovered this Ted video with Billy Graham talking about technology and faith. He’s humorous, engaging, and shares an interesting perspective about how to deal with technology in the future. He’s talking to a secular audience in 1998, but his words are still practical and helpful. The most encouraging part to me was to see the boldness of his talk in the midst of such a crowd.

Enjoy some time listening to this honored man:

Do you have a story or favorite memory of Billy Graham?

I had an opportunity recently thanks to Casey Graham to speak to a group of executive pastors. I was asked to give my perspective as a senior pastor, since each of them report to one. I thought you might also be interested in what I shared. Since I was addressing other issues in addition to this, I was limited on time, so I have added a few since I spoke with them.

Here are 10 things you may not know about a senior pastor:

1. Leading from the number one position is overwhelming at times. We know Christ is ultimately in charge, but we also know it seems everyone looks to us to have all the answers.
2. People tell the senior pastor all kinds of things about what is happening in their life or in the lives of others…many we would rather not know sometimes…and sometimes the weight of others problems we carry is enormous.
3. Most pastors walk with uncertainty and insecurity. Depression is common for many senior pastors.
4. Fear of failure is the number one fear of men…and senior pastors are not immune.
5. Sometimes we allow fear to cause us to get protective. We protect ourselves, our territory, and our position.
6. We face the same temptations and occasional spiritual dryness everyone else faces and know we need accountability.
7. We have issues and struggles like people do, because of past failures or present fears.
8. There is a loneliness of leadership and many pastors suffer from it.
9. We seldom know who we can trust, which is why we become guarded. Most senior pastors have been burned by someone once trusted.
10. We know the staff talks about us like they would any boss.

Granted, not every pastor faces each of these, and i happen to be in an extremely healthy church right now, but in talking with dozens of senior pastors each year…and being one…I know this is a representative list for many. Senior pastors find joy in our work and know we are in the center of God’s will vocationally. I don’t intend to take anything away from that in this post. We serve in a called position, so we are doing what we have been asked of God to do. When I share any post like this, however, I have come to expect a lecture on the need to depend on Christ for these issues, which only further demonstrates my points further. Senior pastors are to fully rely on Christ’s strength, as is every other believer. We just happen to be like Elijah…”a man just like us”. (James 5:17)

Senior pastors, what would you add?

If you are not a senior pastor, do you experience some or all of these?

School is back in session. Summer is drawing to a close. The excitement of fall, though not evident in the weather yet, is in the air at Grace Community Church. We launch a new series this week and it’s one I’m very excited about, because I sense the need so strongly.

5ive is a series about five hidden killers of our walk with Christ. These are things we may try to pretend don’t exist in our life, but if we are honest, we know they can destroy our joy, peace, and quality of life with God and others.

Do you struggle most with guilt, anger, jealousy, greed or pride?

Don’t worry…we won’t make you tell us, but take your pick and each week we will address another issue.

This is the series you will not want to miss…and one to which you’ll want to invite your friends.

Join us as we learn some principles to guide our hearts and lives to better places.

Elijah had been used of God to hold back rain from the people for over 3 years, because of their sins. Obviously, he was not well liked as a preacher. I can only imagine the stress he experienced during those years. Something struck me recently, however, that seemed to further complicate Elijah’s situation.

Consider 1 Kings 18:1 “After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”

According to a couple NT passages, this “After a long time” was actually 3 ½ years. The famine was 3 ½ years long. For 3 ½ years, the people apparently continued to sin, Elijah continued to hold on by faith, but God said nothing. God was apparently inactive, not speaking, even to His great servant Elijah.

Have you ever been there? Has the silence of God in your life ever been eerily strong?

Imagine you had been faithfully serving…God is using you…you are in constant communication with Him…and then suddenly…everything is quiet.

The separation must have seemed unbearable. Elijah is un-liked and unpopular; he’s an outcast from the people and the One he trusted most was seemingly absent. God would soon do a miracle through Elijah, but during this period, all Elijah could do was wait.

If you have been believer for very long at all, you have had periods where it seems God is nowhere to be found. We often call them periods of spiritual dryness. Sometimes I refer to it as being in a spiritual funk.

What should we do during the times of silence, before the miracles of God come through for us?

If you are like me, you can figure out how to celebrate a miracle. You don’t need much help doing that. The tough part of life is figuring out what to do during the years of silence; during the years when miracles are nowhere to be found.

What do we do during the spiritual dry periods of life when we don’t hear clearly the voice of God?

Here are 7 actions I encourage you to consider:

Don’t ignore the silence…
Some of the biggest moves God has made in my life have come after a period of spiritual dryness; when it seemed like God was doing nothing in my life. Stay very close to God and watch for His power to be displayed.

Confront known sin in your life
This wasn’t the problem of silence for Elijah, but the problem for the Israelites was that they were chasing after other gods and living lives in total disobedience to God. Sin may not be the reason you don’t sense closeness to God right now, but if you have known sin in your life it will affect your intimacy with God.

Go back to what you know
Get back to the basics of the faith that saved you. You’ll do it 100’s of times in your life, but you must remind yourselves of the basis of faith. God is in control. He really is…even when it doesn’t seem that He is anywhere to be found.

Make a decision…Choose sides
You can’t adequately serve God and the world. Something happens in life, often sin, or busyness, or boredom, or a tragedy…but if we are normal, we have periods where we grow away from our close relationship with God. God hasn’t moved, but if you’ve shifted in your obedience, get back securely on the right side.

Trust More…Not less
Times of silence may be filled with fear, but these times will definitely require more faith. Times come in our spiritual life when our enthusiasm isn’t as real as when we began our walk with God. That’s not an indication to quit…it may be that God is using that time for something bigger than you could have imagined, but it will require a deeper level of trust.

Listen and Watch Closely
Some day God is going to make His plans known to you. Don’t miss them. He may come to your personally, through His Word, circumstances or another person. You’ll need to be in a position to know that God is moving. (Read THIS POST if you need help discerning God’s will.)

Get ready to receive
God will break the silence some day…and when He does….it WILL be good. If you mope around in your sorrows, you’ll be less prepared to receive the good things to come. Not because of your circumstances, but because of your faith, clothe yourself in joy as you wait for God to bless you after the period of silence.

Are you in one of those periods of silence today? How do you handle these periods of time?