I had a great idea for a sermon series "Well"...  Think about all the stuff in the bible that happened at a well.  The first one that comes to mind is Jesus' dialogue with the women at the "well"... then there is Issac's "well", you know the one the Philistines kept filling with sand, because they envied his success. It's interesting when you read the story Issac's servant took sand out, they never threw sand at the enemy.  Now there is a message... If you get any ideas about wells, let me know.  Oh "Well"...

There's nothing like a mother's advise... womens intuition.  Call it what you want, it's good stuff.  The following was King Lemuel's (what a name) mother's advise to him as a leader. Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.  The amazing thing to me is what is missing here: build a great team around you, have great vision, set goals, develop the leader in you, ... Don't get me wrong the bible has a lot to say about development... a wise man learns.  But the truth is what God wants is for us to speak up.  Be a voice for the down and out, the orphan, the widow, all of humanity, who are distressed and dejected.  Jesus was a voice to the hurting and the broken.  I beleive in having a voice for leadership development principles, but more importantly I believe in having the voice of Jesus.  He spoke up for me.  Who are you speaking up for?

What is the drive, the passion in my life?  What is the motive behind every decision at Lifepoint?  Great questions.  I have to admit sometimes I get caught up in the thick of the thin.  The truth is it's not about a building, a program,... It's not about great leadership.  It's about JESUS.  Every week I want people to walk away from Lifepoint in awe of who Jesus is... nothing else.  Only Jesus can heal the hurting, the distressed, the dejected, and the demoralized.  Only Jesus can recover what has been lost.  I pray this is always my FOCUS!  It's not about building something; it's not about great management; It's about YOU, and YOU are all about people.  I know that the principles are important, but principles can never become the PASSION! Jesus, it's all about you!

Something magic happens when I accept personal responsibility for my behaviour and my results.  The Kingdom of Heaven is about God in me to change the world. If it's not happening then "they" are not responsible.  I AM.  The "magic kingdom" is realizing that my future depends on many things but mostly me.  There is no "blame game" in this kingdom, it's accepting responsibility and living with passion for the King of the Kingdom.

How big is God?  He's bigger than the stuff your going through.  Listen to this...

• His voice is over the waters
• His voice thunders
• His voice is powerful
• His voice is full of majesty
• His voice breaks trees
• His voice moves nations
• His voice flashes forth flames of fire
• His voice shakes your wildnerness
• His voice gives birth
• His voice speaks to me

Are there any questions?  This God is involved in my life right now!  WOW!

I was visiting with a good friend discussing the importance of experienceing the presence of God in our lives.  The church he attends is an emergent, growing church that truly is fulfilling the great commission, loving God and loving people. In the weekend service His Pastor boldly bumped off a tremendous series He was in (I truly admire someone who is willing to get off the beaten path) to minister a message that he felt God wanted him to say.  He even did something he had never done before, and by his own admission may never do again, in his approach to ministering to people during the service.  The result was tremendous and peoples lives were truly changed.  The people experienced God.  I guess the ironic thing to me is so many churchs that claim to be open to a move of God's spirit, rarely have one.  It's easy to think we know what a spirit-filled service should look like.  In fact if we're not careful we'll manufacture one.  The problem is we can't begin to see the movement of God on individual's hearts.  I appreicate a pastor who's willing to change things up under God's direction.  If we are going to experience church in a refreshing way, we must be open to the freshness of God.  We have to break out of rut church.  I am thankful for Lifepoint Church.  As Pastor, my endeavor is that every weekend we experience God in a refreshing way. 

I was visiting with a my good friend Gary this evening from Colorado.  When you're going through stuff in life it's good to know others are with you.  The thing I appreciate about Gary is he always listens, cares, and prays with me. Gary like me has a lot of change going on in his life right now.  Change can be really scary, but "endings are new beginnings if you allow them to be." We're going to make it Gary.  Thanks for being the friend you've always been and have fun in Maui.   

WOW!  What a great service today.  We ended our series "What's In Your Wallet?"  I walked away not only knowing that "He never leaves us", but that a church can have an incredible amount of love and compassion.  Lifepoint Church we love you.  Thanks to many of you for your encouraging words today, and always loving us. Chris you did an awesome job with worship.  It's wonderful to watch your journey of grace! God you are awesome.  Like "American Express"  I'll not leave home without YOU.

 

Now this is what I am talking about.  There's nothing like a good cup of espresso every morning.  It would be awesome to get it intravenously. All of us could stand a little more caffine in our lives.

Success doesn't happen by accident.  It starts with an unwavering commitment to build a dedicated team who serves their boss...the customer.  This is a great thought.  What would happen in the church if every individual, every team took time to identify the potential things that could go wrong where the customer is concerned and averted it.  I'm not saying it's possible to please everyone, but there certainly is a benefit in considering others.  I know it's something I need to do when preparing a message every week.  It's important to consider the culture in the community you are pastoring.  Things that seem right in our communication to us, may be an offense to others.  The bottom line is consider the customer, or for us a church leaders consider you parnters, and your visitors.