Your actions reflect you beliefs…

Once again I was invited to fill the pulpit for Pastor Robert Terry (Church planter, barber, philanthropist, ect.) at PeaceMakers Bible Fellowship, a church plant in Shawnee Mission, KS. I was both honored and overjoyed to be invited back to speak there and pray that this word that God gave me is as powerful in your life as it is in mine. Like I said last time I spoke of this church, if you live in Shawnee Mission and you are looking for a church, check out PeaceMakers Bible Fellowship which meets at Hocker Grove Middle school (10400 Johnson Dr. Shawnee Mission, KS). I hope you enjoy both the audio and video below.

Audio:

Video:

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/29367336]

30 Simple Ways To Be Missional In Your Workplace

I know that most of what I write is descriptive of what happens throughout the biblical narrative and in my life but it is not always immediately practical. So today I wanted to offer some practical application of living your faith in the place that you work. This does not take the place of [verbally] explaining the Gospel to your co-workers. Honestly, it’s difficult to find practical ways to be a blessing in your workplace. Rapid pace, mounting deadlines, or co-worker conflict can often derail even the best of intentions to say and show the love of Jesus at work.

Recently, Josh Reeves posted some very practical ideas for blessing others in the workplace:

1. Instead of eating lunch alone, intentionally eat with other co-workers and learn their story.

2. Get to work early so you can spend some time praying for your co-workers and the day ahead.

3. Make it a daily priority to speak or write encouragement when someone does good work.

4. Bring extra snacks when you make your lunch to give away to others.

5. Bring breakfast (donuts, burritos, cereal, etc.) once a month for everyone in your department.

6. Organize a running/walking group in the before or after work.

7. Have your missional community/small group bring lunch to your workplace once a month.

8. Create a regular time to invite coworkers over or out for drinks (ignore this one if you are Baptist, lol).

9. Make a list of your co-workers birthdays and find a way to bless everyone on their birthday.

10. Organize and throw office parties as appropriate to your job.

11. Make every effort to avoid gossip in the office. Be a voice of thanksgiving not complaining.

12. Find others that live near you and create a car pool.

13. Offer to throw a shower for a co-worker who is having a baby.

14. Offer to cover for a co-worker who needs off for something.

15. Start a regular lunch out with co-workers (don’t be selective on the invites).

16. Organize a weekly/monthly pot luck to make lunch a bit more exciting.

17. Ask someone who others typically ignore if you can grab them a soda/coffee while you’re out.

18. Be the first person to greet and welcome new people.

19. Make every effort to know the names of co-workers and clients along with their families.

20. Visit coworkers when they are in the hospital.

21. Bring sodas or work appropriate drinks to keep in your break room for coworkers to enjoy. Know what your co-workers like.

22. Go out of your way to talk to your janitors and cleaning people who most people overlook.

23. Find out your co-workers favorite music and make a playlist that includes as much as you can (if suitable for work).

24. Invite your co-workers in to the service projects you are already involved in.

25. Start/join a city league team with your co-workers.

26. Organize a weekly co-working group for local entrepreneurs at a local coffee shop.

27. Start a small business that will bless your community and create space for mission.

28. Work hard to reconcile co-workers who are fighting with one another.

29. Keep small candy, gum, or little snacks around to offer to others during a long day.

30. Lead the charge in organizing others to help co-workers in need.

Be sure and check out the full article here.

Do you have some other ideas or ways that you’ve been missional at work? Let me know below in the Comments section!

Missional Tip: Pick one or a few of these ideas and act on it this week. Let me know in the comments how it went!

[ HT: Zach Nielsen and Brad Andrews ]

God is not fair

I remember when I was a kid, I will would repeat these words whenever I felt I was wronged by another person, “that’s not fair!”. Truth is… it probably wasn’t fair but my parents taught me early on that life wasn’t fair. Soon those same words will be ringing through the halls of our household and I will be handing out the same lessons.

I have had this lesson proven to me in a miriad of ways over the years. Without boring you with the details of a sad story about how I was done wrong at some point in my life (I mean we all have those stories), just take my word for it, I have lived most of life knowing that life wasn’t fair and it never would be.

It didn’t make much sense to me as a kid, but as I have grown older, and hopefully a little bit wiser, I have come to appreciate the simple truth that Life is not fair.

Fairness has sadly become the battle cry of our society. When something isn’t fair, it is viewed as inherently wrong or even evil. We have gone from a culture and society here in the United States which was built on the idea of equal opportunity and “evolved” into a culture that expects an equal outcome. What we fail to understand is that those ideas are mutually exclusive. Kids do not fail, everyone gets a trophy, and I have even heard that people bring presents to a birthday party for the other kids in the family because they don’t want them to feel left out. We live in a culture that demands fairness at all times and in all respects and it’s just out of control.

The problem is – fairness is NOT a biblical concept… let me say that again, Fairness is not a biblical concept. The God we serve is a God of justice, but nowhere in the Bible does it indicate that he is “fair.” Indeed, the idea of fair is a very human concept, the Bible never attributes the idea of fairness to God.

Let me explain…

Jesus didn’t carry any swords or spears, he didn’t have an army behind him. His only weapon was his mouth, and it was His message that got him into trouble. His message was seen not merely as wrong, it was (and is still is) dangerous, even subversive. It threatened to upset the social world of Judaism. What kind of message could make the religious people so angry that they would kill the messenger? One idea that could anger the religious leaders is found in Matthew 9:13: “I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners.” Jesus had a message of good news for sinners, but people who considered themselves good often thought that Jesus preached bad news.

Jesus invited prostitutes and tax collectors into the kingdom of God, and the good people didn’t like that. “That’s not fair,” they may have said. “We have been working hard to be good, and why can they get into the kingdom without working hard? If you don’t keep sinners out, it isn’t fair!”

Jesus was preaching that God is not fair. Most people think that fairness requires equal treatment for everyone, but when it comes to salvation, God simply isn’t fair. Even today, people don’t like to hear that idea. Good Christian people want God to be fair—but He isn’t. God is just…not fair. By definition this means that God is reasonable, faithful, proper, righteous, deserving and lawful. This shows us that God is in fact “Just” which is so much better than fair. His grace is far beyond anything we could deserve. God is generous, full of grace, full of mercy, loving us even though we don’t deserve it.

Let’s be honest this kind of message bothers religious leaders and people who like to say that the harder you work, the more you will get; if you behave better, you will get a better reward. Is that you? Many religious leaders like to have that kind of message, because it makes it easy to motivate people to work hard, to do right, to live right.

But Jesus says, It isn’t so.

If you have dug a really deep pit for yourself, if you have messed up time and time again, if you have been the worst sort of sinner, you don’t have to work your way out of the pit to be given salvation. God simply forgives you for the sake of Jesus. You don’t have to deserve it—God simply does it. You just need to believe it. You just need to trust God, to take Him at his word: Your sin is removed from the record. It seems that some people are distressed at this kind of news. “Look, I’ve been working hard to get out of the pit,” they might say, “and I am almost out. You mean to tell me that ‘those’ people are pulled out of the pit instantly, without having to do any work at all? That’s not fair!”

No, grace is not “fair”—it is grace—it is a gift we did not deserve. God can be generous to whomever he wants to be generous to, and the good news is that he offers his generosity to everyone. It is fair in the sense that it extends to everyone, even though this means that he forgives some people a big debt, and some people a smaller debt—the same arrangement for all even though there are different circumstances.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the church or how many sacrifices you have made; those are nothing in comparison to what God is giving us. The Apostle Paul worked harder than any of us; he made more sacrifices for the gospel than we realize, but he counted it all as a loss for Christ. It was nothing.

Honestly, we really do not want what is fair, because fair for us is hell (yes, I said it, I’m one of those people). We do not deserve the gift of grace that God gives us. If God were merely “fair” we would all have to pay for our sin. That payment for our sin would eternal separation from God. I believe that it would mean an eternity in Hell for everyone but Jesus Christ graciously paid the debt of our sin by His death on the cross, and subsequent resurrection. Through this we have the hope of an eternity in Heaven with Him. It is a free gift and nothing you can do will make you worthy of God’s grace.

So is God fair? No, He is not fair… He’s “just” and I am so thankful that He is. What about you?

Why can’t I see God?

One of the most common questions I get as a pastor/minister is,

“You say you see God in BLANK…or that you hear from God…why don’t I have the same things happen to me?”

My response isn’t always what people want to hear, nonetheless it remains the same,

“Maybe you just aren’t looking for Him.”

I once heard John Maxwell teach a lesson and one of His points was, “We see what we are prepared to see.” The older I get the more I am convinced that is true. In fact, I had an experience with my daughter the other day that illustrated this so clearly.

My little girl LOVES Firetrucks (trains, and all trucks for that matteer)!

So, one day we were in front of our house and I thought I heard something so I quickly glanced up to see if I could find a firetruck…but I didn’t see one. Within a matter of seconds her eyes got huge & she pointed saying emphatically, “Firetruck, Daddy look, Firetruck!”

I smiled at her “imagination” and was about to explain to her that there were no firetrucks around but before doing so I looked at the direction she was pointing and there were literally about 3 of the things with lights and sirens driving
by.

There is a reason I didn’t see them and she did, she was purposefully looking for them and I was not!

It’s the same thing with us and our relationship with God. You see, God is ALWAYS at work (John 5:17), He is ALWAYS speaking. He is ALWAYS obvious–even in the ordinary! (Seriously, the sunsets He paints every evening are AMAZING!). It’s just often times we aren’t really looking for Him, we are merely giving quick glances His way.

Questions for you (if you don’t mind)…

When was the last time you came to church & begged God to reveal Himself to you? Or…is it your goal to get in and get out?
When was the last time you prayed over your food and GENUINELY did so with a thankful heart? Or…are you still using that prayer you memorized 20 years ago? (”Bless us, help us and guide us…”)
When was the last time you prayed before reading the Scriptures and asked God to get personal? Or…do you read the Bible to try and see what is wrong with “those other people?”
When was the last time you allowed God to place HIS passion into you? Or…are you to busy trying to instill your passion into Him?

We see what we are prepared to see! You see God isn’t playing some game of hide & go seek!!! He WANTS us to know HIM (Jeremiah 29:13 is a hint as to how)! He WANTS us to see Him!!! He WANTS us to grow in Him!

Maybe our prayer needs to stop being for Him to reveal Himself and switch to begging Him to let us see what’s He’s already tried to make obvious.

Just a thought…

See the world clearly

**I know that I did not post last week but hopefully after listening to or watching this you will understand.**

This past Sunday morning I had the opportunity to fill in the pulpit for Pastor Robert Terry (Church planter, barber, philanthropist, ect.) at PeaceMakers Bible Fellowship, a church plant in Shawnee Mission, KS. Needless to say that I was both happy to be invited to speak there and at the same time encouraged by the presence of those who came. If you live in Shawnee Mission and you are looking for a church, check out PeaceMakers Bible Fellowship which meets at Hocker Grove Middle school (10400 Johnson Dr. Shawnee Mission, KS). I hope you enjoy both the audio and video below.

Audio:

Right-click here to download audio file.

Video:

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/27740589]

Connecting through serving

Over the past 3 weeks we have conducted a 30,000 ft fly over on Spiritual Gifts. Sadly, it seems ignorance about spiritual gifts persists in our day. That is why our Pastors felt it was so important to clarify the roles of the spiritual gifts in our lives. My prayer as we re-enter the book of Colossians, is that you not only discover your giftedness but find creative ways of utilize them in whatever local church you find yourself.

One way to connect with Christ-centered community for you to be empowered with the gospel to serve God and others. Serving is one of the greatest things that we can do as disciples. We should be committed to growing as disciples by using our gifts and talents for God in a way that will bless others and make the community a better place. The Bible tells us that God gave each of us the ability to do certain things well (Romans 12:6‐8). The Holy Spirit gives gifts to believers to be used for the building up of the body of Christ. As a church, we need to help people find and use these gifts for God. Serving is a powerful connection point that many believers ignore or simply overlook. Serving others is certainly not encouraged in our individualistic society, to be a servant means that we must look after the interests of others. It means selflessness as opposed to selfishness. A servant asks, “What can I do for others” instead of “what can they do for me?”

Additionally, Christians must strive to be like Jesus, our perfect example. Jesus set the example of being a servant by saying, “For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). This scripture beautifully embodies the task of Christian ministry. Disciples are to serve and give their lives for others. Serving is the example that Jesus gave, and his followers should follow it. Jesus met both the physical and spiritual needs of the people he ministered to in the Gospels. As the Body of Christ, we become his representatives to a lost world.

Finally, a servant revolution in our churches will reach our community and show the love of Christ. Each week and month, our church provides dozens of different opportunities for people to make a difference through service projects that touch peoples’ lives in the community. These pathways of service help people connect to their community with their God-given ability to serve. Serving is one of the major connection points in our church. The church should be an army of servants who are making a positive difference in their families, their community, and the world. Help find creative pathways for people to connect to your church through serving.

For more information on Spiritual Gifts from a [trusted] Pastor’s perspective please check out this series of blog post. Click here…

HT: Winfield Bevins’