Leadership

Two weeks ago Americans went to vote, and although I’ve already covered that topic a bit, it did get me to thinking about a movie that I’ve enjoyed for years, "The American President". Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd and Michael J. Fox as one of his staff people named Lewis Rothchild. They are in a limo on the way to an event discussing the President’s re-election campaign and the character attacks that the President is under from his challenger. The following statement is made by Lewis:

Lewis Rothschild: You have a deeper love of this country than any man I've ever known. And I want to know what it says to you that in the past seven weeks, 59% of Americans have begun to question your patriotism.
President Andrew Shepherd: Look, if the people want to listen to-...
Lewis Rothschild: They don't have a choice! Bob Rumson is the only one doing the talking! People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.
President Andrew Shepherd: Lewis, we've had presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference.

I think the biggest part of that exchange is what I’ve highlighted above in italics. Think about this in the context of Christianity and the world today. Why is the world in the state that it’s in? Why are the children of today becoming more and more lost? I say that a lot of it is because we as Christians are not giving them a choice. The people of the world are seeking leadership. Yet, those speaking the loudest to them are the evil forces of the world instead of us Christians! We’re not speaking loudly enough for the lost to hear!

How do we fix that? As we’ve been saying at church, it’s not going to be through programs. It’s not going to happen in the building that we have either. It happens where the people are each and every day. You have to not just be Christians on Sundays but all week long, in every dealing you have. It doesn’t matter if the person you are talking with is a Christian or not, you shouldn’t change. You have to be a Christian every moment of every day and demonstrate that to the world. You have to go out and make an effort and step up to that microphone and declare to the world that He is the Way, He is the Truth, and He is the Life.

My question today: Are you willing to lead?

The Team, The Team, The Team!

As most of you know, I’m a big University of Michigan fan. As a big fan, I subscribe to many e-mails from the school. One of those e-mails comes right after every home football game and contains the intro video used by the team as they run onto the field during introductions. The big theme of this year’s intro videos is a very well-known pregame speech called "The Team". Every game they show video of players, coaches, fans, etc. doing parts of that speech along with team video from previous games. It’s this video that gave me the idea for this week’s Mo-Mentum.

Quite often we think that the Christian life is all about what we are doing ourselves. Yet, it’s the entire body (team) that is most important. It’s about every one of us doing our part for the team to function completely and for that team to accomplish the victory. A sports saying is that a team is only as strong as its weakest links, and so none of us should be that weak link.

My question today: Are you a weak link? Do you know your part, and are you doing your best to help the team? When you aren’t doing what you can for Christ, you are letting down your teammates and making it harder for all of us to win. It’s about the team, the team, the team. Every one of us are players in the game of life doing our part for the head coach Jesus. We should be striving every day to make the team stronger by growing in our abilities and recruiting others to the team. Are you on the field, or are you a bench warmer? Get in the game today. It’s about the team.

Choice

Every day we are faced with choices that we all have to make. The first one every day is whether or not we get up when the alarm sounds. We then continue on through the day with hundreds of choices, often about very trivial things such as how much cream and sugar to put in out coffee, which pen to use, etc. Yet, there are also larger choices that we have to make. When driving we have to decide whether to turn in front of a car coming down the street, or maybe we should wait and let it go by first.

Even larger choices come in the area of faith. Do you decide to be a part of the Kingdom? Do you talk to that neighbor and lead them into a personal relationship with Christ? Do you trust God enough to answer your prayers, or do you think that you know better than He does?

On this Election Day, I’m not going to tell you which choices to make. You know better than anyone else where you stand on all of the issues. You know who you think are the best persons for all the jobs, and I’m not going to sway you in those matters. Instead, all I ask that when it comes to the election, you pray before you vote, and trust that God knows which choices are best. Of all the choices you make every day, the most important choice you have is to follow Him, and making sure that God is a part of all of the choices you make, even on Election Day.

Step Over the Line of the Box

Over the years one of the biggest buzz words in the business world has had to do with a box. People are now supposed to think “outside the box”, however not too much or you’ll be called crazy. Have you ever wondered what “the box” really is?

I think that “the box” is that comfort zone that we all live in that we’re all familiar with and can easily move around in on a day to day basis. We have certain people we can talk to without any problems, certain places we can go and know them well, etc.

Today I’d like to challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and get out of “the box”. We often get so darn comfortable that we miss opportunities to witness to others in the world because we don’t think or look outside of that box. Now I’m not going to tell you how to do this, but instead just ask you to look for opportunities. There is a whole big world out there and God didn’t just ask us to only evangelize those in the box with us. He wants everyone reached with the gospel, and in order for that to happen we have to step over the imaginary lines we put in our lives and reach for those in the world who do not know Him yet.

Temperature Settings

Does anyone really understand the weather? Let’s just examine the last few weeks. The first week of October was rainy and cold, and we all started to prepare ourselves for the upcoming winter. Then, the next week it was warm and almost like spring was coming once again. Last week it wasn’t overly warm, but it wasn’t cold. In fact, it was actually fall for a change.

So what does any of this have to do with anything? Well, I think it’s very easy to relate this to our own lives. Have you ever found yourself on fire for Jesus, only a day or two later to be cold again? Then you get warm for a few days, only to cool off again?

Unfortunately, I think this is entirely normal. Life throws us curve balls and finds all kinds of ways to distract us. Yet, you do have to find a way to keep that core temperature rising and keep it warm in your spiritual life as much as possible.

Much like turning on the furnace keeps your house warm in the winter, you need to have the same kind of set-up for your spiritual life. Find a way to keep the fire burning. If the one source of heat isn’t burning as much as it did before, find another source. The goal is still the same. Maybe last week listening to a certain CD got you going, but this week it doesn’t. Instead you start reading a certain area of the Bible that keeps the fire burning. As long as the focus is on God, you will be rewarded.

So, enjoy the temperature changes outside, as before long it’s going to be cold, the snow will be falling, etc. Just don’t let those changes affect your spiritual life. Find new ways to keep the fire burning, and keep that spiritual thermostat set high – it’ll cost you a lot less than those gas company bills will!

A Confession

I have a confession to make to all of my readers. You see, for quite some time I’ve been very addicted to something that I just can’t shake. This is an addiction that I can’t just go to meetings for and get all better. It’s one of those things that has been a part of my life for quite some time, and there are still times that I don’t know how to deal with it because it can really control me. It often impairs me from seeing everything that is in front of me and instead only focuses me on the addiction.

You see, I’m addicted to being a follower of Christ. I’m addicted to living my life the way He wants me to and showing others in the world what it’s like to be a part of His Kingdom. The relationship (or addiction) I have with Him is always on my mind and controls all of what I do every day.

Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful thing to be addicted to? Have you ever thought of your relationship with God as an addiction? At least this isn’t an addiction you’d want to get rid of, right? This is an addiction that instead you wish would grow more and more every day.

I dare you to confess to the world your addiction to Christ. Show everyone what it’s like and how powerful the relationship you have can be. Take a stand and declare it from the mountain tops so that all may hear. The world needs more people brave enough to confess their love of the Lord. Can you get addicted and hook others as well?

All Show, No Go

The other day I was following behind a car for awhile on my way to one place or another. As I was following it, I had opportunity to look at the car and one thing stuck out at me. They had a Jesus fish on the back of the car. I first thought it was cool, although uncommon around Norwalk. Then, as I looked further at the car, the owner had a bumper sticker that I found a tad bit offensive, though I’m not going to say more about it in order to not incriminate someone who just may be reading this.

At this point I was wondering who this person really is. Are they a Christian, as they tried to show they were, or are they more in line with the bumper sticker? Although I may never know who the car’s owner is, or what he really stands for, I did start to examine my own life and get something to take away from this event.

First off, it’s very easy to wear a garment, put up a sign, quote the bible on Facebook, or even have something on your car that expresses your faith to the world. However, it’s entirely different to live the life that you are professing to have. Remember that the world will see that quick glimpse of who you profess to be, but the long lasting impression will be from the way you actually live your life. the way you actually live your life.

Next time you do any of the above things to show the world what you believe, make sure that you are living that way too. The truth is out there for all to see, and you don’t want to be a “generic Christian”, which Pastor Bruce described very well this past Sunday. God bless.