If you’re like me, when you want something to happen you usually try to make it happen in a very forceful way. My desire to control my life has lead to a desire to control the outcome of my life, and if you’re a fellow “Type-A” personality then you can probably relate. The problem is, I’m not supposed to have my hands on the wheel. That stuff is supposed to be surrendered to Christ, and I need to be allowing His purposes happen through me.

This week at Horizon I issued a pretty steep challenge to our church. I commissioned everyone who is a part of our church to physically record the names of three people in their life that they are going to share the vision/mission of Horizon with over the next week. Then, hold ourselves accountable to the people they have committed to reach out to in this way. The hope is not that these people will be converted or inspired by force, but that through our actions we will open up a door and allow God to speak into their life through our church.

It’s very easy to view the advancement of the gospel as something that we need to force. To see it as something that will only happen if we say the right things and have the right answers. But really, all we have to do is show up and LET God make it happen through our simple actions. If we live in his purposes, then we will live in his power. Never forget that.

What I came to realize through this short episode of people watching is that is that I view the world through the eyes of the church all the time, but I don’t often get to view the church through the eyes of the world. Maybe that’s because I’m too close to it or have a biased opinion since I’m a life-long church boy, but whatever the reason viewing the church through the world’s eyes is not my natural perspective.

I imagine people drive by our church building and formulate opinions about us and the way we do things (much like I did from the inside). For better or worse they form an opinion of Christ and/or his church based on their natural perspective, and their lives are a result of that perspective.

What I’ve realized is that change only comes when we are able to shift our perspective. The church will never become what the world needs it to be unless we make it a point to look upon our work from the outside from time to time. And, no one will turn their heart and life over to Christ and if they aren’t first able to change their perspective on what really matters.

I don’t have a super spiritual challenge to go along with this other than to pose this question. How do we do that? How do we change our perspective on changing the world’s perspective? How do we get real about what we’re doing? What will stop us from becoming narrow-minded, ineffective churches?

I don’t have all the answers, but I know we need them now more than ever.

You see, I think that we all have a deep desire to get rid of things in our life that don’t work or that hold us back from our true potential. That doesn’t mean that we’re any good at it, but I would say that the overwhelming majority of us at least have the desire to make our lives about the few things that actually matter. So, even people who could care less about what Lent represents see a value in participating.

Though there are exceptions, most people give up things for Lent that are relatively meaningless.

“I’m going to stop drinking soda…I’m not going to check facebook…I’m not going to eat any fast food…I’m going to give up television…and so on…”

Here’s how I feel. If you can willingly give up something for Lent, and find that it significantly improves your life/focus, isn’t it worth giving up all together? Even if we leave the spiritual implications out the conversation for a second, doesn’t that just make good sense? I sure think it does.

On the other side of the coin there is a FAR greater potential for impact in our spiritual lives. If giving up something for a short period of time allows you to better focus on Christ, why would you not remove that road block permanently?

I’m not saying that I’m better than you because I don’t give up something for Lent, but what I’ve realized is that there is no sense in giving up something that just doesn’t work for a short period of time. If I really want to set my sights on the goals God has for my life I need to give those things up permanently…cut out the fluff…trim the fat…(and any other analogy you can think of)…because all that matters is what matters, and all that matters in my life is serving the purposes of the God that I will spend eternity with.

So, what matters in your life? Whose purposes are you serving? What do you need to cut out of your life permanently?

Simply put, temptations are the devil’s way of challenging God’s place in our life and our devotion to him. Even though it doesn’t often take much to challenge our devotion, when we start thinking about temptations in this light we should become more aware of what is really at work. Look at it this way.

Tonight I’m taking my wife out to dinner. What if in the process of our night out together, a smooth-talking, bad-intentioned, slime-ball of a man approached my wife and tried to pick her up? How would I react? Well, my guess is that this dude would be picking something up, but it would be his teeth off the ground after I introduced them to my fist, and not my wife! I hope I would be able to handle it in a more appropriate manner, but my initial reaction would be severe and over the top. Why? Because it would be extremely offensive for someone to challenge my wife’s devotion to me, or the importance she holds in my life. When we’re out together it’s obvious that we’re “together”. Not to mention she’s currently eight months pregnant! So, I would take GREAT offense at someone challenging the validity and stability of our relationship.

Now, with that being said I had to ask myself this question. How do I react to Satan, who daily challenges much more than just my devotion to my wife, but my devotion to my God, my Lord, and my Savior? How often do I even get upset enough to want to knock his teeth out? Let alone take any kind of action to distance my life from him? I mean, if you’re not a physically violent person and someone hit on your wife AT THE VERY LEAST you would walk away from the person. Yet, so many of us allow Satan to live in our lives when he is challenging and standing against what should be the most important relationship in our life.

Maybe it’s time our reaction to Satan and his temptations became proportionate to the offense he creates in our lives.

Romans 5
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

According to Paul, there is a cycle to suffering. When we suffer it isn’t for nothing. It is a cycle that will lead to character and eventually hope, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Something I have to continually train myself to do is to view suffering from the perspective of what it will become. In Christ, suffering is never what it seems to be in the moment. Rather, it is maturity, character, encouragement, life, and hope that has yet to blossom. But the question remains: will you be able to give it the time to grow into that?

Give your suffering some perspective and time, and, in Christ, it will turn into something much more valuable.

So, here’s what I’ve been praying for over the last month as I prepared to preach these messages.

“God, decrease my ability so that it becomes impossible for me to do anything without you. Keep me from relying on my talent, and force me to rely solely on your Spirit to communicate your message.”

Admittedly, this has been a pretty tough corner for me to turn. You see, nearly everything I have done in my life has relied heavily on talent. Everything that I do comes very naturally to me. If I don’t seem to have a talent or knack for something, then I quit doing it. That way the things I do can be done very well with, if necessary, very little effort. I’m not advocating this philosophy for life, but simply stating a realization that this is how I have operated for over twenty-six years. And yes, even in the last seven years of my ministry.

Public speaking comes naturally to me, and preaching is as natural for me as swimming is for a fish. But, as with many of the other things I do I have spent a large amount of time concentrating on increasing my ability in order to increase my effectiveness; when all along I should have been doing the opposite.

The mark of God’s ability to use a person is not that person’s talent, but their ability to rely on Him. I will become a more capable and effective preacher for the Kingdom of God when my abilities have decreased to the point that I simply cannot complete the task without being full of God’s grace and Spirit. If I’m full of myself there’s no room left for God, but where there is an absence of ego there is room for God to work.

So, are there areas of your life where you need to decrease your ability?

For me, I have a very focused personality, and if I’m not careful I can become too focused on something and forget about EVERYTHING else. I also have a very addictive personality. When I get involved something I get involved with everything that I have. Because of my personality it’s hard for me to do anything half way. That doesn’t mean that I need to change. It just means that I need to be aware.

Because I know what my personal tendencies are I keep myself in constant check. I make sure I’m committing to things that are worth my time and effort. I only focus on things that are worthwhile and beneficial. Otherwise, I would end up in some dark places.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a pastor, CEO of a company, or a soccer mom, we all have personal tendencies that we need to keep in check. These things may be easy to see for some of us, but for others they are hiding in plain view as positive things, but when left unchecked can cause a lot of destruction in our lives.

Here’s my challenge to you. Get to know yourself and keep yourself in check. Your life will have much more of an impact if you can.

I saw people step out of their situations to generously give to people in need.

I saw churches unite under the mission of The Church for greater effectiveness.

I saw the Gospel change people’s lives and perspectives.

I saw people worship God with all they have.

I realize that not every pastor gets to see these things happen every week or even in their lifetime, and that I am incredibly blessed. It’s a blessing that God can fill my heart as I serve him because as my friend Mike reminded all of us at Horizon on Sunday, “He doesn’t owe it to me!”

Joy is a blessing, not a right!

As I watched people react to this tragedy via facebook and twitter the most prevelant question that surfaced was, “What can I do?”

Here’s something we can all do, and something our church will be doing IMMEDIATELY along-side one of our sister churches, the Amelia Church of Christ, where their Preaching Minister, Mike Edimisten, has a direct relationship with the missionaries at the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission.

THIS SUNDAY we will be collecting four very specific food items:

Peanut butter
Beans
Rice
Spam or Treet

We will be sending the food to the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission as soon as shipping lanes are reopened. Again, please note that we are only collecting these four basic items. The missionaries have told us that this is what they need.

The need is urgent, and we will be shipping the items ASAP, so please bring your food donation this Sunday.

I’m going to suggest that every person who calls Horizon their church home bring at least $10 worth of these four items to church with them on Sunday, and, if you’re able to, please go above and beyond that number. If you will not be able to be there, but would still like to contribute you can contact me via email or phone (859.429.0646) to set up a time to drop them off before Sunday.

Let’s step up and be Jesus to the people of Haiti.

It wrinkles my brain to think that I have that many messages sitting in my email account right now, and that doesn’t even include the messages that I have deleted over the years. What’s even more mind boggling is that I have read ALL of these message. I couldn’t tell you my favorite nor do I have one that sticks out in my mind, but I’ve read them all.

Today, this week, this month, this year, this decade, and in your lifetime you will be bombarded with thousands of messages at the same time. You probably won’t remember most, or any, of them because they don’t have a lasting impact. However, there is ONE message that has a lasting impact and eternal significance. The message of Jesus Christ. Sound too cliche? Well, get over it. He died for you when you hated him and knows everything about you yet still loves you, so there. Nobody’s gonna top that offer.

Why not live in it, preach it, teach it, spread it, share it with the world in everything you do? Cut through the clutter in 2010 and give people a message to consider that really matters.