Monthly Archives: March 2010

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15 Questions!

Questions And Answers!

In the message yesterday, I challenged everyone with the scripture from 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” To help you do this I shared 15 Questions! Several of you have asked for a copy of the questions.  These questions grew out of my reading “Crazy Love!”  by Francis Chan.  Specifically out of chapters 4 and 5.  I hope the questions help you to do some self-examination and that the examination helps you to focus on and grow your love for God, His Church and others!

The Questions:

1.  Have you convinced yourself that attending church is enough?

2.  Are you willing to give money as long as it does not mess with your standard of living?

3.  Do you choose what is popular over what is right when in conflict?

4.  Do you want to be saved from your sin or from the penalty of your sin?

5.  Are you watching others do things for God, but never joining in?

6.  Do you share your faith?

7.  Are you comparing yourself to the world to find spiritual satisfaction?

8.  Do you allow Jesus to have all of your life or do you just give Him a part?

9.  Is there a limit to your service?  (Time, money, energy!)

10.  What do you spend most of your time thinking about:  Life here on earth or life there in Heaven?

11.  Do you allow guilt to move you closer to God or farther away?

12.  Are you more interested in how far you can go and it not be sin?

13.  Do you play it safe and fail to take risks for the Kingdom?

14.  Can you see that there is room for growth and improvement in your life?

15.  Are you willing to take the steps?

Take some time to really think through these questions.  I know that I have a lot of work to do.  I am looking forward to what God can do with me and through me as I work on some of this stuff.  I am praying for you and I ask you to please pray for me.  Remember:  We can do this for God’s glory and everyone’s blessing!

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Sunday – Review And Rewind!

I don’t normally write a blog on Sunday evening, but I just could not resist taking a few moments to share a few thoughts from what God had to say to the Northwood Family today!

Do You Get It? I really hope that each of us are beginning to grasp this amazing reality that God loves us.  I am convinced that when we really get a hold of God’s love, it will get a hold of us and change our lives and the way that we are living them!

God Has Done His Part! He loves us!  He has proved it and proves it again and again – everyday of our lives.  We don’t have to wonder if He loves us.  Just open your eyes and look around, you can see His love all around you.  Just open your ears, you can hear God’s love all around you.  Just open your heart, you can feel God’s love flowing to and through you!

It Is Time For Us To Do Our Part! Our part is loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength!  (Mark 12:30 & Matthew 22:37-38)  We have a choice to make!  It is easy to say that we love God, but it has to be more than talk!  God is not looking for “pretend love”.  God is looking for the real deal!

You Have A Decision To Make! What are you going to do with God’s love?  Do not assume anything and do not take anything for granted when it comes to God’s love!  Most people in our churches are wasting the love of God.  If we really had it and were sharing it, then our churches, communities and world would be a very different place!

Coming Up! Tomorrow I will share some questions that we asked ourselves on Sunday morning.  Questions that help us to examine ourselves to see who we are and if our relationship is real or fake?  Until then, take some time tonight and tomorrow morning to talk with and listen to God – You can hear, feel and know His love in a very real way!  God Bless, Press On And Give God Glory!

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Time Change!

I am very excited about our services tomorrow at both of our campuses.  I believe that we have an incredible opportunity in front of us to take some giant spiritual steps that will advance us and our church in the work of the Kingdom!

Remember The Time Change! It is time to spring forward!  That means that the hour that we gained at the last time change will have to be given back at this time change.  I don’t like having to give up this hour, but I do love the longer days.  If you go ahead and change your clocks and watches now – you will be an hour ahead for the rest of the day and on time tomorrow!

Praying For Great Things! I believe that God is up to some amazing things in the life and ministry of Northwood.  Please join me in praying that we will be open and willing to follow God’s lead.  Looking forward to God’s awesome work!

SMILE! I am smiling!  Are you?  Remember:  Smile – God Loves You!  Share It!

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Simple Pleasures!

Simple Pleasures!

This morning I woke up thinking about “Life’s Simple Pleasures!”  You know those little things that help to make our days special, but that we often take for granted.  One of life’s simple pleasures for me is getting to walk my daughter into school every morning.  We hold hands, I walk her to her classroom door, give her a spin, a kiss on the head and remind her to FOCUS!  I know that the day will come, when I will not be able to do this, but right now I can and she let’s me and it is a simple pleasure that means more than most can know!

Life is full of simple pleasures! Take a little time today to think about some of the simple pleasures that God has filled your life with and also take a little time to thank Him for those pleasures!

Have A Great Weekend! I hope that you have a great weekend!  Don’t forget about the time change!  And if you don’t have a place to worship – you always have a standing invitation to join me at one of the two Northwood Campuses!  God Bless, Press On and G3!  (GIVE GOD GLORY!)

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Do You Have One?

This past Sunday morning we presented everyone in attendance at Northwood with a Smiley Face Button and the instructions to wear it and when someone asked about it, to respond by saying:  It reminds me to smile because God loves me!  Then offer it to the person asking and encourage them to smile, because God loves them!

I Love The Stories! It has been amazing to hear your stories and to see these Yellow Smiley Face Buttons all over the community.  In fact, we have placed an order for a whole new batch.  It is a very simple way to plant a seed of truth that God loves us and has an amazing plan for our lives!

Our series this month is “All You Need Is Love!” And love is all you need as long as it is God’s love flowing into and through your life!  I hope that you can join us this Sunday as we take some time to really think about what loving Him back looks like!

Until then, keep smiling and remember:  God Loves You!

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What Does God Want?

Together!

We all have desires! We watch television and we see a commercial for the new Camaro (or some really cool car) and think “That’s just what I need!”  Or a commercial comes on showing some extra creamy ice cream and we think “That sure would be good – I’ve got to get me some!”  Everyday and often without even thinking about it, we create and re-create a list of desires – things that we want to have, do or be.  Desires do not have to be a bad thing.  In fact, they can be a good thing, if used properly and guided by the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever thought about God and what He wants? Have you ever wondered what does God – the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe desire?  I was reading in Deuteronomy 10 and came across a verse that sounded very familiar to a verse that I had read in the Gospel of Mark a week earlier.  Both of these verses tell us exactly what God wants!

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments.”

Mark 12:30 “And you shall love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, and with all your strength.”

God wants to love us and be loved by us! When we love God, truly love God – with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, then we will fear and revere Him, walk in His ways, love and serve Him with our all and keep His commands!

He deserves it! Now that we know what God wants, let’s see if we can give it to Him!   Just look at all that we’ve wanted that God has provided!  G3!  GIVE GOD GLORY!

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Please Pray For Me!

For the past several months, God has been teaching me a lot about Himself and the amazing love that He has for me!  It is a very humbling thing when you begin to realize and gain understanding of this most incredible reality!  I have always known that God loves me, but in recent days it has become more than knowing.  The experience of God-loving me has become more powerful and more real than I have ever known it before.  It is absolutely awesome to be loved by Him.  I cannot even come close to coming up with adequate words to try to explain to you what I am talking about – simply amazing!

This is where I need your prayer help/support! I want to love God back!  I don’t just want to say that I love Him back.  I want to really love Him back – with the most incredible, powerful and pure love that I can come up with.  I feel so inadequate.  Pray for me – that I will totally open up my heart and life to receive all that God has for me and that I will stay open, so that His love may flow to and through my life.  It does not matter if you understand what I am talking about – just pray that I will love God back -more and better than I ever have before.

I want to love my wife and children! I love them, but they deserve so much more and I want to be the man of God that can give it to them.  Pray that I will be the loving husband that God created me to be and that I will love my wife as Jesus loved the church!  Pray that I will love my children with the “Father Love” that the Heavenly Father loves me with!

I want to love my congregation! One of the amazing things about God’s love is that even when I mess up – He still loves me.  God’s love for me is not based upon what I do or do not do!  He loves me, simply because He is love!  Pray that I will love the congregation of people who He has blessed me with the opportunity of teaching and leading with a sacrificial and restorative love!

I want to love my family and friends! God has been very good to bless me with an incredible family and some amazing friends.  I have tried to be there for them and tried to love them, but I know that I can and should do better.  Pray that God will help me to love them with a deeper, purer and more unselfish love!

I want to love strangers and enemies! I know that I honor God when I love the un-loveable, so pray that God will help me to love others as He loves me – with an unconditional and unselfish love!

Thanks for reading today and thanks for praying for me! The bottom line:  I want to be a Mark 12:30 Christian and love God with all of my heart, all of my soul and all of my mind!  I do love you and with your prayers and with God’s help – I will love God and you in an even greater way in the days ahead!

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Be Yourself And Enjoy It!

I am not your normal pastor/preacher! To those of you that know me, that is no grand revelation!  I love God, His Church and People!  I try really hard to not be judgmental.  I know that I am a sinner saved by grace and that I have more than my share of challenges and struggles.  A lot of the new friends that I am making find it hard to believe that I am a pastor/preacher.  They have never known a pastor/preacher like me that is actually human and honest about his struggles, frustrations and yes even sins!

I have not always been this way. There was a time when I gave into the mold that traditional church people will often try to force you into.  My hair was alway perfectly parted to the side, my face was always cleanly shaven and I had a perfect collection of suits and ties to fit every occasion.  (Casual to me was a pair of khaki pants and a button down shirt!)  There is nothing wrong with any of these things and I still from time to time wear the suit, show off the baby face and sport the very conservative side part – this is a part of who I am, but only a very small and limited part.  I tried to look perfect and actually began to believe that since I looked it, then I must be!  (We should know better!)

Read this passage from 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 19.)  Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  20.) To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  21.) To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  22.) To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

I am learning to just be me and I have to tell you – it feels pretty good! Let me encourage you to spend some time with God and discover who He has made you to be and then enjoy being the you that He created you to be!  God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life – don’t let life and other people mess you up, drag you down and keep you from experiencing God’s blessing – just be the best you that He created you to be!

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A Page From My Journal!

This is a page out of my personal journal that might help you to know my heart a little better.  I hope that it will be a blessing and encouragement!

I know that God desires to do great things in and through our lives!  I know that He wants to and is willing to use me to help grow others.  I know that the blessing and fulfillment in my life and the life of my family comes from God’s activity with, to and through me.

God is teaching me that I cannot do the things that He is calling me to do by myself.  There must be a team!  This team starts with my family and their willingness to understand and remind themselves of the High Calling that God has placed upon my life.

It is no small thing to be called, gifted and equipped by God to do something that is bigger than yourself, bigger than what I am able to dream or imagine.  This is the work that I believe that God has called me to and words cannot even come close to describing or explaining it!

There must be a supporting team of staff – paid and volunteer that will walk with me, trusting that I am trusting God.  Personal agendas must be laid aside for the pure pursuit of God’s prize!

I cannot do all that God has created me for without the help, assistance, support and encouragement of a congregation of growing and developing Believers!  This world can be impacted by our faith!  But it must be a real and genuine faith that changes our lives first and then the world.

I love God with all of my heart – I cannot exactly explain why – I just do!  And the great desire of my life is to live for Him, serve Him and do whatever I can to give Him pleasure.  I believe that the best way for me to accomplish this goal is with and through His Bride – The Church.

May His hand continue to guide my life, select my goals, develop my strategy and bring real and powerful blessings into all of our lives!

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Just Getting By!

To Much To Do!

There are a lot of people living in our world today, that are just living an existence!  And if we are not careful we can become one of these people.  People who do only the minimum to get by and then cannot understand when they wake up one day and find that life has passed them by.

God created us to be a committed people, but commitment is hard work.  There are not many people in our world today that have experienced the feeling of being lifted above their normal and ordinary limitations, but this is exactly the gift that God has for each of us as we learn to say “yes!” to Him.

We need to find this thing that we can commit our lives to.  The thing that deserves our complete and singular focus.  We need to find this one thing that will motivate us to be willing to risk whatever it takes.  This is the thing that will change our lives, by allowing us to change other’s lives.

I must admit that I sometimes get so caught up in myself and the weariness of life, that I don’t even take the time to really think about my commitment – what it is and who it is to.  I like to think that I am committed to a degree, but not really.  Or, perhaps I am committed to too many things at the same time.  Either way, it is really easy for my focus to get messed up and my life always seems to follow suit!

In many of our lives, we associate success with activity!  We live with the belief that the more activity – the more success, so we get busy and stay busy with as much activity as we can cram into our already busy schedules.  But this lie of busyness that we tell ourselves is just not true!

It is important for each of us to remember that we are human!  We cannot do everything.  Our humanity demands that our fatigue level build up to a limited point, to where we can’t go on.  Many of us have been at this point and it is not a fun place to be.

When we reach this point of exhaustion, we are no good to anybody, because we lose our passion and our spirit becomes weary.  We find that our lives erode away in the busyness of life.  We become sloppy, undependable, irritable and cannot help but to think about just quitting it all.

We must protect our passion by guarding our commitments.  We cannot be committed to everything and everybody.  Only one thing matters and He is Jesus!  Now before you leave this article take just a moment to think about that statement:  ONLY ONE THING MATTERS AND HE IS JESUS!  Allow this amazing truth to redirect your focus and you will be pleasantly surprised at the difference that it will make in your life!