Get The Message

So, on Sunday I was the "elder of the day" at Norwalk Alliance Church. I expounded upon a message that I have felt God screaming at me to talk about during my time in front of the congregation. I feel so strongly about this right now that I am going to include a written version of this in today's blog....I hope you don't mind.

First off I'd like you to take out your cell phone. I'd like you to put that in your right hand, and get our your Bible and put that in your left hand. I want you to look at your hands right now, as we compare these two items.

Both the Bible and the cell phone both have messages for you. On the cell phone you have voice mail messages, text messages, and most even can get e-mail messages these days. Some people even have a Bible application on their cell. Now, I want you to look at your Bible. This book also has a message for you. It's a message of hope, peace, and your salvation. It's all about how you should live your lives, bringing others along the journey.

My question for you today is, why do we all spend so much time with the messages on the cell phone? Why is it that we'll drop everything else we're doing in order to check out the message that is on that cell phone, but we're not willing to do the same with the guidebook for each and every one of our lives? I've seen people check out their cell because it sounded or vibrated everywhere from a concert, a sporting event, a restroom, to even in church. Why do we continue to allow these distractions into our lives when we aren't so quick to answer His call? His message is just waiting to be read every day, and yet we aren't nearly as fast to check out the Bible as we are our cell phones.

When we start to make Him a priority in our lives, maybe then we'll start to see a change in our focus. Maybe then we'll allow God to work more and more in our lives. I'm not saying that the messages on the phone aren't important, but I am saying that they need to be prioritized correctly. When we get that under control and allow God into our lives more and more, then we'll feel His presence more and more each and every day.

I Want A Second Try!

I don’t know about you guys, but man I’ve really messed things up in my life. I mean, I’ve done some really stupid things that I’d really like to go back and correct. You know, kind of like getting a mulligan while golfing. That is right, I want another try,God… Do you think he’d give me one?

Everyone once in awhile I look back at my life and think about all the stupid things I’ve done. I’m sure everyone has similar stories like when I was jealous of another guy for talking to a girl I liked and hit him at a football game. Oh, and there was the time I was sucker punched on the playground because of a really stupid argument with another guy in junior high. And then there was the flowers I sent a girl and didn’t put my name on them….how stupid is that? Yes, those are only a few of the stupid things I’ve done, and yet every here and there they come back into my head for some reason. I wouldn’t mind a do-over on most of those.

Then I start to think about that a little more. What good would a do-over do me? If I got a second try at any of those what would I be like now? You see, for each of us, every one of those blunders we’ve made, as well as the positive experiences, have helped shape who we are today. We go through the good and the bad of the earlier parts of our lives in order to prepare ourselves for who we are today. God had us in those situations then in order to allow us to have experienced things that we may not have any other way.

Try thinking of that the next time you are in a hard spot in your life. Maybe you will see your experience in a different light. Maybe you’ll be able to get out of a situation because you got through something similar in your past. Then again, maybe He’s building up for something that will happen later on instead.

So, although it sounds great to look back at our past and think about all the things differently, in retrospect that may not be the wise thing to do. Those experiences made us who we are. It’s easy to be a “Monday Morning Quarterback” and know what should have been done differently. But, God made us who we all are today because of the things we have gone through in the past. If it’s not to help us, it may be to help someone else. Maybe you can help your kids out with something they are going through because you have gone through it as well. Maybe the person you mentor needs help with something, and you just happen to have lots of experience in that area. Whatever the reason, God crafted every part of our lives, including every good and bad experience. You have trust Him and not ask for a do-over, but instead embrace who you are and what He has made you to be. When you do that, His kingdom will be even stronger because you now are even more accepting of who you are and your role in His world!

Are you willing to get hit?

I was recently asked by someone how to not focus on the bad things in a person’s life.

Now, after some quick consideration, I came up with this idea – one that I thought might benefit others.

Think of yourself as standing in the middle of a long road. There isn’t much on that road that keeps you from seeing into the distance. A bad thing in your life is an incoming car. That car is coming straight at you, at a speed that really doesn’t matter at this moment. Now, you think that you can distract yourself from that bad thing (car) and so you put up some sort of barrier – we’ll go with a brick wall – between you and the car (bad thing) in order to keep it from getting to you. The problem is, you are only fooling yourself. That little brick wall isn’t going to keep that car from getting to you. It’s only a temporary barrier with no support structure and when that car hits it, well the car will just get through it and get to you. All you did was fool yourself that you could actually keep away from that bad thing in your life.

Now, instead let's look at that car coming at you again on that same road. This time you see that car coming and decide to trust God. Now, trusting in God doesn’t mean you stand there waiting for the car (bad thing) to hit you! Instead, you change your focus from the car that is coming your way to the fire hydrant on the side of the road directly to your side. You take a step of faith and step towards the object that God placed there for you instead. And, now because you stepped towards the item that God had you change your focus towards, you barely even notice when the car goes whizzing past you on the road.

Now, that probably dog-pee-stained fire hydrant isn’t really a hydrant. It’s something good that God has placed in your life. It may be a ministry that you are a part of, a loved one, or possibly Him in another form such as a good Christian book, song, or even the Bible. He placed that there in your life because he knew that if you walked towards it that your life would be spared from the bad things in it - and that your ultimate goal of focusing on Him would be achieved.

Wouldn’t you like to change your focus and stop looking at the bad things that can mess up your life? Wouldn’t you rather have more of Him in your life instead? If so, stop focusing on the things that aren’t any good in your life. Change your focus to the things that He has given you to make your life better. When you change your perspective and focus on the good things, you may not even notice the bad things in your life any more – and you’ll have more of Him in your life instead.

We'll Leave The Light On For You - Conculsion

As most of you know, Motel 6 is famous for the slogan “We’ll Leave The Light On For You.” It was a huge advertising campaign and still sticks in the heads of many of us today. So, why do I use this saying at the conclusion of this series today?

Well, if you are plugged in, as we talked about the first week, and if you have found the light and are living in it, you are then living the life that God has set for you. But, what happens when someone falls away from God? What happens if your family member decides to walk out of the light and back into the darkness?

First off, that light has dimmed – but most of the time it hasn’t been extinguished. The information is there in his or her head, but they are choosing to leave the light. The world that we live in is so tempting that many will choose it over God for so many reasons.

These people are temporarily lost, but they are not forgotten. God will not forget them, and He won’t let you either. They will continue to be on your heart and you will continue to be given opportunities to shine back into their lives. This is a trial in this person’s life that will hopefully allow them to speak into the lives of others later on in life. We’ve all been lost at one point and have found our way to Him.

Continue to pray for those who are in the darkness. Continue to shine your light into their lives. Let them know that God wants to renew the relationship with them and that they are special to Him. Let the know that the light can be plugged back in and start shining again.

We'll Leave The Light On For You - Living In The Light

There it is people, our lives in a picture. If you are plugged in and your light is shining, then there you are in the chair. You are in the hot seat, which is in the spotlight. The darkness -- that is the world around you. In that darkness are millions of other people in chairs that could be in a spotlight as well, but instead they are just sitting there going about their day-to-day lives.

So, how do you get others into the spotlight as well? How about moving the chair and bringing others into the light with you? That is what evangelism really is. You are moving around the stage (world) with a spotlight on you bringing people into the light from the darkness. You do this by becoming a part of their lives. You take an interest in others and become a part of their lives. Then, through all of that, you eventually get into discussions about life and faith and let him or her know that you have a personal relationship with a God who wants to know him or her as well.

That effort that you take as you are plugged in and shining your light for God in the world could eventually cause a stage (world) full of spotlights shining for God, working on getting more and more lights onto the stage. What a great place we’ll live in once this occurs! Live in the light, people, and bring others along with you. Let’s light up this place!

We'll Leave The Light On For You - Find The Light

Last week I wrote about getting plugged in. I used an example of you being a lamp and needing to be plugged in for your light to shine. I hope that you have done that the entire week since, if not before that point.

Today I want to discuss finding the light. I think the first thing we have to figure out is what the light is. The light is God’s presence. Every day we should be striving to be plugged in to God so that we can do the things that he wants us to be doing in our lives.

So, what happens when you find the light? You’ve finally decided to buckle down and read your Bible every day, pray every day, or something of that sort. Now you start to notice that things have changed in your life. You may have noticed that it’s easier to get through a Monday because it isn’t as bad as the previous Monday had been. You’ve found that some conflicts easily resolved themselves because you had an inner peace that you never had before.

Now think about what it would be like if you continued finding the light every day. Now that you are finding Him in your life, your own personal light is able to shine onto those around you. Let’s go back to the lamp example. A light illuminates not only itself, but the area around it. If it wasn’t for the shade, the bulb would illuminate the whole area around it.

You are the bulb, and that shade is the world getting in the way of your light. In order to get that light to shine onto the lives of others you have to fight to keep that shade out of your way. God wants you to influence those around you, and when they see your light they’ll want the same thing for their lives.

Can you stay plugged in? Can you get that shade out of the way so that your light can shine for others to see?

We’ll Leave the Light On For You - Get Plugged In

Let’s start out this week’s blog by thinking about a lamp that many people have in their houses. We’ll say it looks like this:

You see, it’s nothing special at all really, right? Maybe it’s a little modern looking, and maybe it goes perfectly with the rest of the décor of the house. It really doesn’t do a whole lot right now, right?

So, what is wrong with this lamp? I mean, it’s in the right place, and if you're still imagining it in a house, you realize that at some point in the day it’ll be in that place at the right time, right?

Yet, as you look at this lamp, you realize that something is missing….at least I hope you do. That is right, it doesn’t have any way of plugging in. How can this lamp put the things around it in the light without being plugged in?

Here is the point for the week: You may be in the right place at the right time, but not able to do anything because YOU aren’t plugged in! If you want to do God’s work you have to find a way to get closer to Him on a daily basis. Prayer, reading your Bible, and “getting wet with others” are great ways to plug in.

What ways do you get plugged in every day? Do you only show up to church on Sundays and expect that to keep your light shining the entire week? If that is the case you’d dim out over time, right? Once again I encourage everyone who reads this to do something I think is extremely important: Find a way to be in His presence EVERY day. If you do that, you’ll find your light shining brighter daily, and maybe you can illuminate the area around you as well.