Iphone, gotta have it

This week I did something I never thought I would do.  I bought my first iphone and finally joined the millions and millions of people that say it’s the best thing since….well whatever.  When the delivery guy came, he asked me, “Is that your new iphone?”  I said, “well I finally decided to make the switch.”  He noticed my sober attitude about it and taken aback said, “there is nothing wrong with owning one.”

It got me thinking, is there?  I mean so many people consider it one of if not their most valuable possessions.  They will do anything to get one and almost go insane if they lose it.  They will spend money they don’t have to impress people they don’t know.  They will camp out in lines for days even go to the extreme of having thumb surgery to better use your iphone.  (The unverified story of Thomas Martel)  As I have walked around this past week with my new phone, lets just say I have gotten a lot of attention.  Everybody seems to want this phone and will do anything to get one.

So, what is something you want more than anything else?  I think if we are honest in our humanity there is something material or relational that we would pay any price to get it.  For some it might be the new gadget for others it might be acceptance or belonging.  Whatever it is, there usually is something people desire over everything else.

They say that every man has a price and if that is true that means we will at some point in our life sell ourselves for it.  We will walk up to the counter and transact our soul for the most valuable possession we could ever obtain.  Now the Bible tells us what is the very best thing to attain in life.  It instructs us to do whatever it takes to get it, a lot like what many have done to get there new iphone.  It may cost you everything you own or will own, but it’s worth that sacrifice in order to obtain it.  It’s that valuable, that important that everything else you might ascribe to should take a second seat.

What is it?  Well it’s wisdom!  “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” (Proverbs 4:7)  That is a pretty strong statement, but over the years of my life and watching others, wisdom is the difference between a life well lived and a lot of pain.  It’s what a person will rely on or forget about when it comes to the decisions of life.  And it’s those decisions that determine your path.

My recommendation, choose wisdom! But not just any wisdom, choose God’s wisdom, in otherwords choose a relationship with God first for He is the beginning of wisdom!  And in the words of my fedex delivery guy, “there is nothing wrong with owing….wisdom”

Power Out?

(Ecclesiastes 4:6) “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.”

There is a basic principle in this world that if you want something different than what you are getting you 

need to do some things that you have never done before.

Everyone around you will tell you, “I’m busy” “I’m tired”.  It is the exception to say “I’m free”.  It is the exception to hear a person say “yeah I got a ton of rest…I am full of energy”

As one of my mentors says…“Broke is the new normal” (Dave Ramsey).  It’s so true, we live in a normal world of 

-having no time to enjoy life

-having no money to bless others

-having no patience to accept change

We are wired and tired and that is normal!  It makes me wonder if this NORMAL life is really worth serving?  If we are honest it really robs us of very special things!

There is a funny thing that happens in my house from time to time.  The electricity goes out.  Now usually it’s because of a storm, but here lately there have been very random outages that have occurred.  Now this is normal in other countries, but here in America if we come home to see a digital clock blinking we are alarmed.  “What happened?  The power must have went out..ohhhh no!”

But as long as it’s back on we brush it off, no biggie!  But when it goes out, for hours or days I have noticed how much my life changes.  It’s not just a little change, it’s a big change.  We don’t open the fridge as often, just to check.  TV’s become black screens of demise instead of shimmering colors of light, no fun to stare at for sure.  Board games get pulled out and we talk more.  I noticed we go to bed at a decent time and wake up naturally.  We pray more!  We read more!  We interact more with each other.  90% of what consumes are days is instantly removed from the realm of possibility.  It’s actually quite amazing to see what happens when the power goes out for a day.

Again it makes me wonder about my 21^st century life.  It makes me wonder who I am actually serving?  Jesus told us a fact in Matthew…“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24)

Now He contrasts two big life consumers…God or Money because when it comes down to it they are often the top contenders for a person’s soul.  But even if you are not wrestling with the 1^st round draft picks the principle still is true, you only have room for ONE master.  So who will it be?  Best way to tell is to examine how you live your life.  Always full or always with room, one handful or two handfuls?  Which one is it?  Which one do you want?  Time to start making some changes!

1. What is your schedule like?  Is it always full or always empty?  What is a good balance?
2. Why are we so full today, living with two full hands where ever we go?  What causes this kinda of living?
3. What masters your life?  Is it God, or money, or acceptance, or negative self-talk?  What other masters are out there?
4. In the message Pastor Paul talked about the need to cut back, throw out, and turn off.  What of the three needs to be done in your life the most in order to accomplish one handful living?
5. Focusing on remembering what does matter, removing what does not matter and planning margin in all you do will produce less stress and a more Godly lifestyle.  Ask a life group member to pray with you about accomplishing this.

Unintentional Tyranny

Each day we all have something in common that we all often overlook.  It’s time!  And how we use that time often not only reveals who we are, but will typically determine our destiny.  It shows us a lot about who we are and what we are trying to get out of life.  We have intentional time with food, intentional time with sleep, intentional time with entertainment, with our friends and family and all that of that time spent develops us more into who we become. 

What drives us to spend our time in one place or another?  Well, we know there are many reasons such as duty, responsibility, commitment, love and passion.  What often drives us is the tyranny of the urgent that results in time spent unintentionally and unexamined and those blind steps have conclude into confusion.

I love what Steven Covey once stated “Watch your habits; your habits will determine your character and your character will determine your life. You cannot rise any higher than the fortitude of your character. Your character is the foundation for your life, so if you want to change your life, you must first change your character.”

If you are ever going to break the lid off of your life you need to master where you intentionally spend your life.  And there is no better place to “school” that than in the presence of God.  Spending intentional time with God will breed inside you destiny!  It’s those moments that create a better person, a person that dreams, envisions a better world.  It’s that intentional time that moves a persons life to fulfill those ideas.  There is where a great story is born and gets nurtured to climb higher in life.  It’s always better day in God’s presence!  Spend intentionally relaxed time with God and the unintentional stuff that is eating you alive will melt away.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. (Matthew 6:30-33 The Message (MSG))

So let’s practice taking intentional time with God.  I want you to think about what your intentional time with God looks like.  Let me help you develop it with a few of the following questions.

·       How can you develop an ongoing, unending awareness of God?

·       What do you spend the most time doing during the week?  The second most, the third most?  Can     

        you replace time with God with one of those?

·       If you feel that it is impossible to replace one of your top three time consumers, what do you think 

       would happen if you instead gave God the first 10 minutes of each activity?

With your Life Group or with a friend take some intentional time over the following to go a bit deeper.

  

·       What habit do you feel you need to improve when it comes to your relationship with God?   

        Constant communication, instant obedience, or daily desperation?

·       What are some of the things keeping you from having an ongoing, unending awareness of God? 

        What will do you to remove these distractions?

·       In what ways do you think your life would be better if you lived with an ongoing, unending 

        awareness of God’s presence?

·       What good things do you need to let go of so that you can grab hold of the better in your life?

The Best Story NOT told!

I can hear it now, the famous movie voice over says… “IN A WORLD OF…”  It has graced the introductions of many popular and some not so popular movies.  Each of those movies told a story, a story of drama, love, comedy or action.  Those stories drove us to drive ins and caused us to “pop” our evening with anticipation of how the story would play out. 

We have spent massive amounts of money to see how stories would end up.  Some stories seemed outlandish, others hit right at home, and all of them had an impact by one simple truth.  That stories have the ability to physically, emotionally and spiritually move us.  In essence every story that has been told has had an impact.  It’s the stories that are not told that have no impact at all.  The act of proclamation creates the power of a story.

As important every story is, we must realize that something drastic is missing in each story that makes us feel uncomfortable.  Like those times you order a meal and the server forgets to bring apart of the entrée.  That incomplete feeling is the same each person carries when they are not told the story of Jesus.

The apostle Paul pens his thoughts about this in Romans chapter 10 when he said…How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)

Paul saw people around him incomplete without the story of Jesus in their lives.  He was not trying to peddle a religion or justify his recent change in belief systems.  He was so profoundly impacted by this story that others had to at the minimum be given the opportunity to hear this same story. 

I have come to realize this as well.  I believe that people’s stories are at best deficient and even shortened without Jesus.  They must be told!  And it’s up to you and me to tell people about one of the best stories that has ever been told.  Without us telling them the profound impact of divine destiny may never take to the sky.  If we will just grab the courage that comes with knowing our own benefits of knowing Jesus, telling others won’t be as bad as we think.

Remember that any journey worth taking is worth telling!  And any story worth receiving is worth repeating.

1.     What do you see is the primary reason why people don’t tell the story of Jesus more often?

2.     Is it necessary to “TELL” or speak it out?  What is the difference between a story told and story untold?

3.     How has the story of Jesus impacted your life?