Come on people focus! We live in a world that is struggling (at best) to find any true focus.  There are extreme questions of focus in our political system.  Our school systems have almost completely lost focus on education.  Many businesses are focused only on the bottom line with little care for the customer.  Even many churches have lost the focus from seeking and saving the lost to focus on catering to the wishes of the denomination headquarters or the desires of the long time members.

I have to be completely honest to say that there are many days that I struggle with my personal focus. I have committed to being focused on being a man of God, a faithful husband, a loving father and grandfather, and a caring pastor in that order.  But I realize far too often that the tyranny of the urgent gets in the way of me staying focused on the priorities that I feel God has placed in my life.

Do you ever catch yourself losing your focus for your life?

What are the things that you do to reclaim your focus?

When I wake up each morning I find my glasses and put them on so I can focus on the clock and any overnight messages to see what I need to do for the day.  I am praying that I will begin putting on my spiritual glasses by asking God to lead me where he wants me to go each day and that I might see clearly the opportunities that He places in my path.

Come on people focus!!

Learning from the Words of Jesus - A City on a Hill

Kim and I were talking this week and she told me that one of her goals for this year was to focus more on Jesus. The interesting thing to me was I had been having a very similar feeling of something aching down deep inside of me that I couldn’t put into words and she just did.  I want to focus more on Jesus and what is important to him.

So I found one of my Bibles that has the “red letters” (you know the things that Jesus said) and I started reading in Matthew.  My thought was if I look and what Jesus said, and why He said it or what He was talking about I can learn some things about how I should live.  Seemed rather simple!

Matt. 3:15 – First recorded words of Jesus are his response to John the Baptist not wanting to baptize him.  Jesus said, “We must do this to fulfill all righteousness.” What could I learn there? It’s important to follow God’s teaching and to do the right thing.

Matt. 4:4, 7, 10 – Jesus responds to the temptation from Satan with quotes not just from the Old Testament, but from the Torah, central to the Jewish heritage of faith.  What could I learn there? When confronted by Satan or any evil in the world, go straight to the word of God.

Matt.4: 17 – Jesus’ first words of teaching were “repent for the kingdom of God is near’.  What could I learn there?  The kingdom of God is not about a date in history but about a spirit in your heart.

Matt. 4:19 – Jesus calls disciples with three simple words, “Come follow me”.  What could I learn there?  Quit making life so hard. Just drop everything and put Jesus first.

Matt. 5:1-12 – Jesus first sermon describes “happiness”. What could I learn?  He is the author of happiness, do what He says.

Matt.5:13 – He talks about “remaining salty”.  What could I learn? Following him is not a part-time game.  It’s all in!

Then he comes to this section about a “city on a hill”.  It is the first time he talks about a community and how important it is to reflect the light of God to all who can see.

          What good is light if it doesn’t shine so people can see?

Week 3 of The Story - Trading in Your Dreams for Another’s

We are three weeks into our incredible journey through The Story.  Max Lucado and Randy Frazee have provided some additional insights for us for each week. Here is what they had to say about Joseph.People nearing mid-life often crash into some startling and unexpected observations. For instance, we all dreamed big dreams when we were younger. But as we move at a break-neck pace through our twenties, thirties, and forties, we eventually slam head on into the realization that some of our dreams will never be realized.

That observation throws some people into a mid-life crisis. Some don’t make it that far with their aspirations, having already given them up somewhere along the way. Some run into conflict that makes them weary and they settle for less. Still others make bold decisions to trade one dream in for another.

That’s what Joseph did. Talk about dreams! He had some big ones. At seventeen he dreamed his ten

older brothers would bow down to him. It’s enough he dreamed that dream. What makes it worse is that he told his brothers about it.

The older brothers already had issues with the younger son. Their father favored Joseph. He had even given him a valuable, multi-colored coat. That’s the modern-day equivalent of a parent of four teenagers giving one an iPhone and the other three a stack of quarters each for a pay phone (assuming they could find one on their travels). The brothers banded together and tossed the dreamer in a ditch, eventually selling him into slavery at the first opportunity. The next thing Joseph knew he was waking up in Egypt.

From there his life was a rollercoaster thrill ride. One minute a slave. The next in charge of an Egyptian official’s house. The next in prison. The next in charge of the prison. Then he found himself in front of Pharaoh, called upon to interpret the leader’s dreams. With God’s help he was able to warn Pharaoh he would have seven years of abundant crops that he should be put in storehouses in anticipation of seven years of famine. Recognizing his wisdom, Pharaoh put Joseph second in command of all of Egypt.

And because of God’s personal involvement in his life, he was was able to save his family. The same family that God was building into a nation. Joseph was in position to bring his family to Egypt and give them the most fertile land to work. And it was definitely fertile. In the time they were there they were “fruitful and increased greatly” (Exodus 1:7).

Joseph could have lost his life getting caught up in the details of his life, chasing his dreams and desires.

Instead, he chose a better story. God’s story.

You can do the same. If your life’s dream has stalled, look to God. If your dream now realized is not all you thought it would be, look to God. He can give you another dream. A better one, not according to the world’s standard but God’s criterion. Just like Joseph’s. Then you’ll have a story to tell.

 

Things don't always go as we think they should and sometimes we have very little if any fault in those circumstances.  Things just don't seem to be working out.  But could it be that God is working things out, even when things don't seem to be working out.  - Romans 8:28

 

Read Chapter Four about Moses.  You actually have a couple of weeks.  We will talk about it on July 14th.

 

Keep on Reaching,

Dave

Random Thoughts for May 28, 2013

• Why do people think that they can live like hell Monday through Saturday and show up for a worship service on Sunday and it's all good?  God will not be mocked!  Galatians 6
• If you are living like there is no hell, you better be right!
• I can't believe that I get the privilege of leading people to Christ in spite of my short comings. Grace is a wonderful thing, so I try very hard not to abuse it.
• God is up to something on the Hill at Shelby Christian.  I pray that I am always aware of His leading and don't miss a single opportunity.
• The Story is going to be incredible.  I pray that we are all able to grow in our story as it fits into His Story!
• This week is going to be special as we finish our two-part parenting sermon.  I wish I knew some of this stuff before I became a parent ... or grandparent!

A Day with Granddaughters

There isn't a better word to hear than Poppy. I love spending time with my granddaughters. They are innocent and free.  I wish they never had to grow up. Adults can really mess things up.  Kids tell you what they are thinking, until they get old enough to understand how to manipulate. I wish they never learned that, but they do. They see it in adults and then they model it and eventually pass it on to people that they influence later in life.  Oh that they could stay completely innocent. Since I know that they are already growing up really fast I'll just try to enjoy simple moments.  

I'll be finishing up the sermon You Can Do This ... But Not Alone on June 2.

FROM DREAMING TO DOING

If you could do anything you wanted to do what would that be?  Do you ever just stop and dream anymore?  What would a future that you would create for yourself or someone you love or someone you don't even know look like?

 

It seems that for the majority of the people I know that they have stopped dreaming completely.  They are so caught up in the day to day monotony of life, that they have either forgotten how to dream or they have just given up on anything ever being different than it currently is for their life. I have to admit that many days, no most days, I fall into that group.

 

Either we have tried something spectacular before that didn't work or we just had the legs cut out from under us people who told us we were just being silly, we just stopped dreaming.  I find myself today wondering about a different future, and what it would take to see it fulfilled and come to be.

 

I wonder what it would be like if every child that was born got to live with their mommy and daddy until they were out of high school and then they all got to go to college.

I wonder what it would be like if there weren't any homeless people in my community, not because they didn't exist but because we took care of them.

I wonder what life would be like if every family was virtually debt free, except possibly for a mortgage.
I wonder what it would be like if everyone that I know, knew Jesus as a loving savior.

I wonder what it would be like if everyone who goes to church acted like they knew Jesus as a loving savior.

I wonder what it would be like if we never said that will never work. 

I wonder what it would be like if we started dreaming ... and then started doing ... hmmmmmm

Time To Make a Change

We have been working through a great series of messages on the Hill focusing on accepting that we are all sinners and the most of us have aSignature Sin that Satan keeps using against us over and over again.  I am so thankful to my friend Greg Johnson for sharing some of the ideas they had at Generations Christian Church as they worked through materials from Saddleback and Celebrate Recovery.  This week we put together what we called a recipe for transformation from that material.

Recipe for Transformation

1.    Tackle one change at a time.  Prov. 17:24

What is it going to be?

2.    Find victory one day at a time.  Mt. 6:9b-11

Where have you won?

3.    Depend on God’s Power! Phil. 4:13

Where have you seen God?

4.    Focus Forward. Phil.4:8

Where do you want to be?

5.    Try to do good, not just feel good.  Gal. 5:16

What is something good you could do?

6.    Find people who help you, not hurt. Prov. 27:17

Who make you feel special?

7.    Seek progress, not forgiveness. Phil. 1:6

Have you made positive changes?  Why or why not?

What I really love to see is how God is helping people to work through letting go of some Signature Sins and finding freedom that comes from turning it over to Him.  Maybe it would be good just to share a few ideas of secrets that you have learned that have helped you let go of something.   You don't have to share what it was, but maybe the principle would help others.

Until Jesus comes back, let's just keep on reaching!