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Weakness

Published May 13, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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My roommate in college got cancer, became weak and eventually died. My biological father also got cancer, became weak and eventually died. It’s inevitable. We all have a shelf life. Our body’s become weak and someday, we die. Death is a result of our weakness… our shortcomings… the inability to to fight off “the death blow”. Something takes over and causes the body to shut down.

When you die you are utterly helpless, without any power or strength.

That something, that weakness, is sin. Sin is shortcoming. Sin is a weakness we all have. Think about it. Weakness is a state of being utterly helpless, without power or strength. That’s death. When you die you are utterly helpless, without any power or strength.

In the book of Genesis (an account on how the world came to be), Adam and Eve choose to sin in the garden. Because of their sin, the consequences to breaking God’s laws were that they would eventually become sick (weak) with the disease of sin and die. They choose it by disobeying God’s security. Not only did they choose it, it was passed down from generation to generation to all their offspring (you and I).

Adam and Eve choose to sin, therefore… we all die (“As in Adam, all die…” 1 Corinthians 15:22).

In our weak condition (our sin) we are helpless because we have no one who will come to our rescue. Maybe in life we have the consequence of sin which is death. But wait… what if there is a cure for death. Don’t get me wrong, you still have to go through dying. However, what if there is a cure once death has been “diagnosed”? What if you have to take the medicine before the diagnosis?

The Apostle Paul says that God (the creator) gave His Son (Jesus) who we have a choose to believe in (trust – the remedy for death) to overcome the weakness which is our sin. In that belief, the antidote for the diagnosis that we know is coming, Jesus gives a gift (counselor and guide) on how to live, how overcoming the weakness that causes death and live in such a way that will prepare us to spend an eternity with Him.

What if you have to take the medicine before the diagnosis?

Loving this God for His gift of life after death gives us power over weakness that will come. We need not fear when the diagnosis comes because we know that we are already trusting in the remedy – Jesus Christ death and resurrection on the cross.

Are you feeling weak? Let me encourage you with what Jesus offers those who will call upon His name…

What Jesus offers to the weak.

  1. Protection and Support: To reject God means we welcome attacks and ultimately welcome death without a remedy for the disease. To accept Jesus means we welcome a support structure, a cure for death, that only God can provide to protect us when death comes. We often give into sin because we are not protected properly. You must go into the bunker to get away from the storm. “Petitioning your requests to the Lord” (Philippians 4:6). If Jesus is the only one who can die for creation, a perfect cure for an imperfect world, then He is the only one who can give protection to the weak in the ability to overcome death.
  2. The Ability to React Properly: Those without protection and support have no time to respond to an attack because the defenses are down. However, the one who trusts in the Lord wears the armor of God to fight everyday, real life, battles.  “You (Jesus) defend the weak and the fatherless; You (Jesus) uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.” Psalm 82:3. Word it this way, “You (Jesus) cure the weak and fatherless; You (Jesus) uphold the cure for the poor and oppressed.”
  3. The Ability to be Controlled and Restrained:  A weak, defenseless person cannot respond properly to temptation and thus lives a life out of control. Again they openly welcome death. However, accessing God’s offering of redemption gives us more than a temporary moment of relief but an eternal standing before God. A cure that lasts an eternity.

“At the right time Christ died for the ungodly… rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.” Romans 5:7

Few people might possibly be willing to die to save the lives of the weak… Jesus went beyond that, Jesus died in the place of the weak, for the ungodly, while we were in our sin and weakness and for His enemies. What kind of God does that? Name one other God that does that for His followers?

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Where you are weak, God makes you strong through the power of Jesus remedy for those diagnosed with death. Will you take the cure in an act of faith and rely on it’ power to daily guide you in the ways you need to go?

-jordan

Vault Conference Notes

Published May 8, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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About Vault: 

Vault is a conference on how to do church … for people who don’t like church. There are many books and conferences on how to grow a “successful” church, but unfortunately they’re not focused on how to reach the unconvinced and cynical. Read more about Vault here.

Speaker: 

Vince Antonucci

Vince Antonucci became a Christian out of a completely non-Christian background and ever since his passion has been reaching the “lostest of the lost.” He was the founding Pastor of Forefront Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a church where 72% of the people who attend were previously unchurched non-Christians. Vince recently moved to Las Vegas where he started a new church, Verve, in the heart of Sin City, just off the Vegas Strip. Vince is the author of I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt (2008), Guerrilla Lovers (2010), and Renegade (2013).

Notes:

Session 1: The Call to Reach God’s Lost Children

  • Vince started by telling his story. Interesting that his mom was Jewish and hs dad was a professional poker player. How in the world did those two meet?
  • God has countless number of lost children wondering around… is anyone going to help these children back to their Father?
  • Jesus message “Return to me.”
  • The mission of every pastor and church planter are not good at helping people get back to God.
  • Does the church truly have an “evangelistic DNA”?
  • We can’t pass on DNA that we don’t have.
  • Don’t lose the rhythm of God’s heartbeat for lost people. How do we get ourselves around lost people?
  • The longer we wait to reach the lost, the harder it is to reach the lost.
  • Churches are like steak restaurants for PETA activists.

Session 2: Programming Church Services for People Who Don’t Like Church

  • Principle 1: Uncross your arms –  Change people’s posture. Help people unfold their arms!
  • Principle 2: Wear their Shoes – How does it feel to go to church when you have never gone their before?
  • Principle 3: Bring a Guest to Dinner – What do you do that’s acceptable to you but hard to swallow to an outsider?
  • Principle 4: Be on Your Game (Joe DiMaggio) – Every service should be done like it’s someone’s first time.
  • Principle 5: Check Your Influences – Are you going to other churches to get things or are you accessing what lost people are interested in in order to change what is secular into something that could be sacred.
  • Principle 6: Use their Culture – What are people engaging in that you can access?
  • Principle 7: Don’t Use Your Culture – Be careful about the assumptions you make, your assumptions make your crowd.
  • Principle 8: Authenticity – Who is this person and is he anything like me? We need to let people access the unconditional love of God.

Session 3: Diving into the Chaos

  • It’s not your job to clean up someone else’s mess. Lead people to experience the love of Jesus and their sins will start to pass away.
  • Create the right conditions to grow which is an arena for grace.
  • It’s easier for most Christians to judge people instead of love people.
  • People who are far from God have been living with the enemy for so long they have forgotten what it’s like to experience the love of God.
  • There will be some people who accept grace as a reason to sin. It’s worth the risk.
  • If people think you like them, they will listen to you.
  • We need to be more comfortable in our communities instead of our churches, involved in people’s lives who need Jesus the most.

Session 4: Radical to Radical

  • If you want a radical follower, you need to find someone who is radically lost.
  • Radically lost people become radical followers of Jesus.
  • We are all about igniting a revolution and not starting another country club.
  • We must be compassionately connected to those far away from the Lord.

Session 5: Questions and Answers

  • Courage comes from a genuine love for people and seeking their best.
  • Courage to talk comes from courage of conviction.Are we offering people a better way of life?
  • What is the most loving way to say things to people?
  • Point people to evidence to help change on a level that is beyond yourself.

Session 6: No Splanga, No Glory

  • You’re willingness to rist is your potential return.
  • When we stare at our risk we are giving into our fear.
  • Lives are impacted when we do things for the kingdom of God.
  • It’s totally worth doing what God wants you to do. Stare at potential return and it will help you overcome fear.

An Excerpt from Henri Nouwen on faith: “The Flying Rodleighs are trapeze artists who perform in the German circus Simoneit-Barum. When the circus came to Freiburg two years ago, my friends Franz and Reny invited me and my father to see the show. I will never forget how enraptured I became when I first saw the Rodleighs move through the air, flying and catching as elegant dancers. The next day, I returned to the circus to see them again and introduced myself to them as one of their great fans. They invited me to attend their practice sessions, gave me free tickets, asked me to dinner, and suggested I travel with them for a week in the near future. I did, and we became good friends.

“One day, I was sitting with Rodleigh, the leader of the troupe, in his caravan, talking about flying. He said, ‘As a flyer, I must have complete trust in my catcher. The public might think that I am the great star of the trapeze, but the real star is Joe, my catcher. He has to be there for me with split-second precision and grab me out of the air as I come to him in the long jump.’ ‘How does it work?’ I asked. ‘The secret,’ Rodleigh said, ‘is that the flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. When I fly to Joe, I have simply to stretch out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me and pull me safely over the apron behind the catchbar.’

“ ’You do nothing!’ I said, surprised. ‘Nothing,’ Rodleigh repeated. ‘The worst thing the flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. I am not supposed to catch Joe. It’s Joe’s task to catch me. If I grabbed Joe’s wrists, I might break them, or he might break mine, and that would be the end for both of us. A flyer must fly, and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him.’

“When Rodleigh said this with so much conviction, the words of Jesus flashed through my mind: ‘Father into your hands I commend my Spirit.’ Dying is trusting in the catcher. To care for the dying is to say, ‘Don’t be afraid. Remember that you are the beloved child of God. He will be there when you make your long jump. Don’t try to grab him; he will grab you. Just stretch out your arms and hands and trust, trust, trust.’ ”

Great day drinking from a fire hydrant.

-jordan

Momentum

Published May 6, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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My daughter likes to repeat herself. She says the same thing over and over again until she gets our attention. Her most recent appeal has been to push her on the swings. Being that she is so young, she’s unable to swing by herself and therefore needs assistance. She wants a “big push” to gain the proper moment to feel the maximum wind flow through her hair. She will literally sit in the swing yelling, “Daddy, come push me!”

The other day I tried to pass off the responsibility by calling my wife over to give her some momentum. As she neared towards the swing, without reservation, my daughter pushed her away and said with great demand, “No! Daddy has to push me!”

“Daddy has to push me”

Unsure why she wanted me to push her and not my wife was a foreign concept. Therefore, without hesitation I walked over, secured her in the swing, pulled it back as far as it would go, and then let it rip. She shouted with excitement over the exhilaration.  My wife looked at me without pausing,

“You push her a lot harder than I do!”

So it is with Jesus. How many times have we sat longing for God to come give us a push?  To do something great in our lives that no one else can do. We may of had others push the swing at times but for some odd reason they always came up short, leaving us sitting still begging for our father to come to the job the right way.

I’ll never forget the first time our daughter went to the top. She was nervous how high we were climbing.  Fear coursed through her fingers as she clutched the swings chains tighter. We often want the thrill of flying but forget about overcoming the fear to get going or the trust it takes in the one pushing the swing.

“If we call out to Him and trust Him, He give us the greatest encounter we could of ever experience.”

What we must cling to is that when we call upon the Lord in faith, He will not only come to our aid, but He will also help us get over the fear of getting to the top. Even better, if we call out to Him and trust Him, He give us the greatest encounter we could of ever experience. He will “never leave us or forsake us” (Hebrews 13:5) as He is the momentum that keeps us going for eternity.

Where are you?

  • Are you sitting on the swing waiting for that push? “Call upon the name of the Lord” (Romans 10:13). Stop looking for someone else to do the job that only God can through His Son Jesus.
  • Are you terrified because God is bringing you to the top of the pendulum? “Don’t fear” (Isaiah 41:10). The Lord knows what He is doing. Embrace the fact that He is in control.
  • Are you enjoying the ride? Is life going great and you just can’t get enough? Awesome. (John 15:11) Don’t forget that when you lose momentum, ask God to give you another push and don’t be terrified when He takes you to the top to start over.

The best is yet to come! 

-jordan

30 Days of Prayer

Published May 1, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

30 Days of Prayer

Download Prayer .PDF here.

-jordan

Summer Sun

Published April 22, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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It’s fascinating to watch people change their focus from winter hibernation into a sunshine mindset. People will collectively gather in various outside locations to congregate over sporting events, barbeque pits, and other famous summer traditions of family and friends.  The winter is finally over and it’s time to breathe some fresh air.

With the clean atmosphere it’s no surprise that the many activities taking place in the sun are captivating us. Parents are out cheering on their children as they swing for the fences, moms and dads root for little kids are out kicking soccer balls as many are chasing the love of the game.

Summer is Awesome!

I watch many in amazement.

Children mimic their parents. Little hands and feet will eventually contribute in the same activities that mom and dad partake or influence upon their young offspring. After all, our desire is to honor our mothers and fathers… even if we don’t know we are doing it. A child’s actions are magnified by a parental comment, which results in amplification, amplification leads to a desire, and sometimes that desire is unwanted.

The other day my daughter and I were watching professional bull riding on television. We stopped on the channel because she said, “Look at the bull Daddy!” My mind went into full gear wondering if she would actually like to ride a small cow.  Maybe I needed to get her some cowboy boots! I even envisioned her becoming a professional bull rider one day.  I had her life planned out in the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) in a single moment.

Then I caught myself.

I remembered that what I was imagining was my dream, not her own. She simply wanted to watch the animals. I wanted to see her be a rodeo star. She could have cared less about the riders.  However, with my influence it could have quickly become her dream with a couple quick comments.

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6

As the show ended we found ourselves at the end of the day reading her Bible before bedtime.  We landed on Proverbs 22:6 “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” I told my daughter that her way was coming but in order to fully live her life properly, it must be grounded in the foundations of Scripture and lived out for the Lord first.

I told her, “Everything we do must be done for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

God will guide my little girls path more and more as I model for her how Mommy and Daddy place God as His ways as a priority before anything else. I promised her that I would do my best to help her see that God’s ways are better than our ways and when we embrace pleasing the Lord, our earthly pursuits are that much more fruitful. (John 3:30)

Are God’s ways greater than your ways? Do the people you influence know this?  Do your children know this?

My father always says, “More is caught than taught”. That means my example, what I place as a priority in my life will ultimately become my child’s. My example is dominant.

More is Caught than Taught

Think about it this way, what are you placing as a priority in your life? What influence have we placed on our children that dictate their mindset? Are we placing material things over the ways of the Lord?

The summer sun is awesome. It’s a great season to enjoy the radiance of God’s glory. While there’s nothing wrong with swinging the bat, kicking the ball, or playing the game, let’s not forget about walking in the ways of the one who gave us to the opportunity to enjoy these great games and this great planet we live on.

-jordan

The Proposal

Published April 15, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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A friend of mine asked me a month back to let him propose at church. We sat down over dumbbells to plan the scenario. With little interference from his soon to be bride we were ready for action.  Yesterday he popped the question using great form and perfect timing. Not only did she say “yes”, he got a standing ovation.

ovation

The Proposal

Standing ovations are awesome.

The standing “O” makes you feel like you’re doing the right thing. While a human audience’s applause only last a moment, God’s glorious applause for His people lasts an eternity.

As my friend asked his soon to be bride for her hand, the congregation saw an outward action of an internal change. God was on “His feet” because he is in the process of learning what Scripture teaches, living it out realistically, and giving the credit back to God.

Many times we will try and live out what we think we know is best and then go back after a downfall to learn what God’s work teaches on the subject. To make matters worse, if we did consult the scriptures, we will often give ourselves the credit! Double fault! Living out what we think is best and giving credit to ourselves for victories limits God’s favor and silence His applause.

Give Credit and Achieve Impossible

In short, we must learn to give credit where credits due.

As John said, “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:30) That means I learn the truths in the Bible, I live it them out and I give credit to the Lord. In order to truly believe that God will step to help us, His people who believe in Him through faith by the blood of Jesus on the cross, remember that our outward actions are symbolic of what is going on inside, and when we are overcome for Christ, we give God the glory He rightly deserves.

This is how you mature in a relationship with your creator.

Have you ever received a standing ovation? Would you like to get one everyday? Learn God’s Word, live it out and give credit to him for letting you have access to His glorious plan. After all, a heavenly ovation trumps human applause any day of the week!

-jordan

A Better Balance

Published April 8, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Abraham and David were great men in the Old Testament. Many New Testament authors reference their leadership frequently. While their guidance was exceptional, both leaders found themselves vindicated not because of the work they exhibited, but more through believing that the impossible could be done when one knew God’s favor was in their possession.

In other words, they walked a road of faith and let God do the heavy lifting through being spiritually disciplined.

A road walked in faith means God does the heavy lifting.

What have you deemed “impossible”? Are you working through your own effort to obtain it? Human thinking places self-belief higher than faith. Self labor and personal belief claims that when one works hard enough (physical labor), great things will happen. While hard work has it’s place, what about the spiritual disciplines that connect to Christ in a supernatural way, allowing us to understand His will? Where is the balance between actions and understanding?

If one were to base a life of obtainment simply off physical labor, then where is their room for prayer, fasting, solitude, rest, etc.?

Much work (labor) has been placed in many relationships and other efforts. However, the greatest growth has come when there is a balance of toil (heavy lifting) and spiritual labor (spiritual disciplines listed above). Abraham and David both dominated for the Lord because they walked with God in the spiritual disciplines while actively doing His will. Think about it like this…

If one were to base a life of obtainment simply off physical labor, then where is their room the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, solitude, rest, etc.?

  • There may be an internal desire to see one come to know the Lord but instead of just preaching constantly have you tried praying for this individual? Fasting over them? Listening to the Lord about how He wants you to communicate God’s truth?
  • You may want the promotion so you’re working endless days and nights trying to obtain it but have you sought out the Lord’s voice in solitude and rest? Have you paused to see if what your doing is really worth it?
  • Your family might be in complete disarray, so you find yourself in constant toil trying to make everyone happy but where are you in your relationship with the Lord? If you are unhealthy, how does that affect others? Are you asking people to do what you are unable to do yourself? Maybe it’s time to slow down instead of accelerate.

Remember, God aligns us to His image when we embrace the beautiful balance of spiritual disciplines and good old fashion hard work. It’s in our nature to work and it’s in our nature to pause. Abraham did it, David did it and even God did it in the creation of the world. We are created in HIS image, maybe it’s time we seek a better balance.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5

-jordan

Easter Weekend Recap

Published April 1, 2013 Uncategorized 1 Comment
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Easter Weekend 2013

Kids Testimonies

Teenagers Testimonies

Adult Testimonies

Bonus: Easter Egg Hunt

I Don’t Trust God

Published March 25, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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This is not the kind of phrase you put on your business card. BUT have you ever said it? Probably not in a getting-ready-in-the-morning, getting-pumped-up-for-the-day kind of way- “Hey! I don’t trust God!” More like in that moment of self-awareness of disappointment that says, “I’m sorry God… I’ve fallen short, and I have to admit that the real reason is, as ugly as it sounds- You are my God… and I don’t trust You”…

These are the moments when you are keenly aware that you still have a lot of growing yet to do. I sure do. I’m here representing all of us that struggle with this.

“Everything is a two sided coin.”

For whatever reason- experience, birth order, whatever- my MO has always been to try to minimize the margin for error. Here’s the plan, now let’s think through what could go wrong and try to buffer those areas. Everything is a 2-sided coin. So when I take that same attitude into ministry circles, sometimes it’s helpful, but I think that may be the one thing, at the end of my ministry, that I look back on with the most disappointment…

Cause I’ve seen a lot… But there are things I’ve never seen. Because I didn’t go all the way to that place where only God could do it. Because I wanted to make sure it was going to be okay. So I took that prompting from the Holy Spirit, that gut feeling that God wanted something risky and uncomfortable and new and uncharted and I try to do the safe and dependable version of it… And God doesn’t call that “minimizing the margin for error”- He calls it disobedience. And the shame of it is that I will never know what might have been if… What if God’s plans were bigger?

I see myself in many of the stories of Scripture. Here’s a particularly scary one for me.

Moses has been doing very well. Better than I (or any of you) will ever do. This guy is no slacker. There’s a reason God picked Moses. Obeyed God to the “t”, got the Israelites out of Egypt, now leading them through the desert and putting up with their crap for what would be 40 years. You think your church is tough on you? Exodus 17- the people are giving Moses all kinds of grief, blaming him and complaining and making him want to die, “there’s no water” and God says, “Take your staff and strike the rock”. Moses strikes the rock and water comes out. It worked!!! Problem solved. Awesome.

“Take your staff and strike the rock.”

Numbers 20 – again, the people are giving Moses all kinds of crap, blaming him and complaining. God says “Take your staff and SPEAK to the rock”.

Moses gets up in front of all the people, he calls them rebellious and then he strikes the rock two times, and water gushes out and people drink and are satisfied.

Moses comes back into the tent of meeting later on. “That was awesome God! Did you see me, I was like- “you’re a bunch of rebels! What do I have to do, make water come from a ROCK!” Boom! Everyone is drinking now, God, you’re the best!”

God says, “Moses, you blew it.

Because you did not trust me enough to honor my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not enter the land.

There’s an argument that’s been made to say that Moses hit the rock because he was so mad at the people, not because he was being disobedient. Just a quick look at God’s response makes me believe otherwise.

He says, “You did not trust me.”

“Trust me.”

That just implies to me that somewhere in Moses’ mind it just not seem feasible that speaking to the rock was going to work, but what worked before was striking the rock, so he chose what worked before OVER what God said to do this time.

THIS IS ME! Moses was thinking the same thing I have thought so many times!

How many times in my gut have I sensed that God is wanting to do something new, something outside of my comfort zone, outside of my experience, and I start asking the “what if’s”…

Moses thinks, God, if I get up there in front of all those people and speak to the rock, and nothing happens…

  • What if You don’t come through? Are you just going to leave me standing there? Are you just going to pants me in front of all those people?
  • What if we pray in faith for that man to be healed, in front of all those people, and You don’t heal him?
  • What if we make this grand invitation for people to accept Jesus, and no one comes?
  •  What if we invite people to grab a hold of our God-given vision, and no one gets it and it’s just me standing there looking ridiculous. And I will make You look ridiculous and your people will lose faith. And I don’t want that, God, so I’m going to protect you God from that, and I’ll go with what I know works.

So he did what worked before. And you know what? He got the water! Success!

This is what rings true with my own experience- even when I have cheapened what I believed God was leading my to do, by making it safer, I have still seen “success”. The worship set went well, the message was well received, the conference went off without a hitch.

But apparently giving the people water was the least of God’s goals for this encounter. Yes, He intended to take care of His people, but it was so much more than that- Because He tells Moses about the goal that was missed. You did not  trust me by honoring my holiness. Showing them his awesomeness was what God had in mind, and Moses blew it!

How much more incredible would it have been to see Moses just speak, and water comes gushing out… God wanted to show off here, and Moses stole the show, did it the safe, dependable way, and cheapened the whole thing.

You dishonored my holiness in front of all my people! You did not trust me

Of the things I’d like to hear from God, “you dishonored my holiness in front of all my people” is really, really low on the list. “You did not trust me” is really low on the list.

  • When I play it safe, I dishonor God’s holiness
  • When I go with what has worked before, I dishonor God’s holiness
  • When I lean on my strengths, I dishonor God’s holiness
  • When I’m quick to cite the reasons “we couldn’t do that” or “that wouldn’t work here in my church”. It’s great that this is working somewhere else, but that would never fly in my church. When I do that I dishonor God’s holiness.

I could do these things and still see “success”… but God’s goals are so much bigger than that. How many times have I stolen away God’s chance to show off in favor of doing what is safe and dependable?

Oh God, help me to trust you more. I believe… help my unbelief.

Amen.

*The following post was written by Jeremiah Olson. Jeremiah is the Worship Pastor at Grace Community Church in Goshen Indiana. All photos included in above post were added by theendisforever.com.

Birthing Ideas – Part 1

Published March 18, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. I have two awesome little girls that light up our house. However, they didn’t just arrive in the mail one day. They were carefully developed through a 280 day process.

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My two girls and their mom hanging out reading books.

So it is with the life. We have some great idea and dreams but they didn’t come overnight. Eminent proposals and immense ideas are  “birthed” in a complex formation process.

It is good to break it down ambition into groups (or trimesters if you will) to find out how to take an internal spark into a consuming fire.

Get ready to turn the lights on.

First Trimester (Week 1 – Week 12): Conception of the Idea

  • Get ready! If you’re serious then understand personal image is going to undergo radical transformation. Brace this transformation by anticipating that change is coming. It doesn’t matter how big or small the dream is, your life is going to change if you are serious. You will not be the person you were before. Say goodbye. Don’t get scared, God made you to be great and this journey will go a lot better if you understand you’re going to change in the process.
  • As image changes, so does emotion. Again, brace yourself. Don’t be discouraged, emotional breakdowns and feelings of insignificance are normal as the process continues. Like pregnant women, mood swings are expected along with some headaches. Don’t give up!
  • In the middle of the forth or fifth week there is going to be a feeling of exhaustion. Ideas take work. Nobody tells you how much work but to truly birth and idea that means rigid labor (think staying up late and getting up early). Success equals sacrifice.
  • At the end of this first trimester there is going to go outside of the plan. Stay focused and understand that you must stay alert on the original idea. It’s your baby! Don’t give up!
  • Most of the above discomforts will go away as you progress. If you’re lucky, you might not feel any discomfort at all! Remember, as each person is different, so is each dream.

Don’t give up, you’re almost there!

Second trimester (week 13-week 28): Midway

  • Be encouraged, the second trimester of an idea is easier than the first. You should be used to the workload, accepting your personal changes, and dealing with emotions better. Tasks need to start going to other individuals as you prep for the “birth”.
  • You should actually see “movement” to what was once a concept.  Like pregnant women feel their child moving at this time, you should be seeing the idea take shape. Celebrate the fact that an idea is becoming a reality!
  • While the reality of seeing the dream come to life is coming, understand that you are still going to ache, and have feelings of being emotionally “numb”. Don’t give up!

Get ready for the world to see your great idea.

Third trimester (week 29-week 40): The Reveal

  • This trimester is the final “kick” until conception.
  • At this point in the walk it can feel as if it’s hard to breath. There are feelings of doubt and asking questions of “Is this really going to happen?” and “What if…” You’re in the home stretch! Don’t lose hope!
  • While you have equipped people to help when the “birth” comes, they are now ready for the reality that this conceived idea is about to become public. Embrace the help! If people aren’t utilized sleep will suffer, troubleshooting will become overwhelming, and advice will be far from your fingertips. Enlist help to brace for impact.

It’s here but there’s still work to be done! Now that the idea is a reality there’s an idea that needs nurtured from infancy to maturity…

See you next week.

-jordan

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Email - JMuck@cgccommunity.com

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