The right place often seems like the wrong place

God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. A sense of destiny is our birthright as followers of Christ. God is awfully good at getting us where He wants us to go. But here's the catch: The right place often seems like the wrong place, and the right time often seems like the wrong time.
If we will depend on God for EVERYTHING, not just in theory but in reality, then we would be more settled about the place and time that God so chooses. When we look at God for who He really is, rather than reducing God down to the size of our biggest problem. Rather than seeing God and His power from our own human limitations, we should see that His ways are MUCH HIGHER than our ways. When we take for granted that our heart is going to beat one more time or our lungs are going to draw in oxygen, then we fall in danger of losing sight of our dependency on Christ. God operates in a whole different dimension than we do, and he wants us to trust Him in everything, especially in the relatively small things that we already expect will happen, in order that we can trust Him in the big things of life. If you will be in a continual attitude of prayer (dependency), then you will have established a strength in your dependency on God where nothing will shake your world.

The man at life's rock bottom

Praise God for the opportunity to speak life into a man that has apparently crashed against the shape jagged rock bottoms of life. He has nearly lost everything, including his will to live. A satanic attach has been called out in full force to destroy this man, as he has dangled at the finger tips of demonic influence. Yet as a blood bought Saint of God, life and hope is found in the Living Word of God when it says, "Greater is He who is in you, than he that is in the world." I reminded him that a follower of Jesus Christ must first have a true understanding of who God really is. See, Satan has destorted the mind of man about who God truly is. Satan's first attempt started back in the garden by telling Eve that God was holding out on her and that He really didn't have her best in mind. Nothing has changed today; Satan still tells man that God really doesn't care, and if He did then He wouldn't let so much bad stuff happen to us.

The real problem is that Satan is a liar and the truth is not in him, and you must be out of your mind stupid to listen to him. As far as the big picture is concerned, look at what Satan's fate is and then reason with perceptive insight of who really cares about you. Satan "has come to kill, steal and destroy you," but Jesus "has come to give you life and that more abundantly."

Life is enjoyed through the understanding that God is not a big bully in the ski with a baseball bat waiting to wack you with it. Though He is a righteous and holy God who must punish sin, but for the born-again believer, that punishment has been paid on the cross of Calvary by Jesus, on our behalf. So look to Jesus, not as an addition to your life (like a coin in your pocket to spend when needed) but rather as the very purpose for living life.

We closed our time together with a Spirit-filled prayer for God's protective care to surround him and that God's Spirit would break this yoke of bondage that Satan has tried to smuther him with.

Please pray for "the man at life's rock bottom."

A follow-up on the Lady at Subway

I am so excited to tell you about the blessing & miracle God has performed on the behalf of "The Lady at Subway." If you will remember back a few days ago, I went into Subway to buy a foot long Subway Melt to split with my wife for lunch. While in line I had an opportunity to have a conversation with a lady that was working behind the counter. She had mentioned in our conversation that her electricity had been shut off at her house for the last 4 days. When I inquired from her how long her electricity would be out, she said she wasn't sure. Therefore God put this lady on my heart and I asked for everyone to join me in praying for her need.
Because of the Blog entry about this story, one of the members of Mill Road, who works at Vectren as a boss, inquired for more information about the lady. I said that I would go back to Subway and get a name or something. So on Wednesday morning around 7:30am I drove by Subway and saw that they were Open. So I went in to talk with the only person that had opened the store that morning. She was very helpful, and gave me the name of the lady. So I passed the information on. Well, Praise God everything got worked out and the ladies electricity was scheduled to be turned back on by Thursday. So she should be in the light by now. Thank you, thank you, thank you for praying with me about this lady's need. And Thank you Joe for putting legs on all of those prayers. Now that is what I call TEAM WORK.
I now have another opportunity to go back as a follow-up and see if this might have opened a huge door of opportunity for me to share Jesus with her. I'll keep you posted-- Literally.
I can't say it enough... Mill Road Baptist is an Awesome group of God's people!

Twitter is a helpful tool for me

I have read about how twitter has been a helpful tool to some that are in the ministry, and would completely agree with their way of seeing it. So much so, that I have adopted their way of putting it on paper (in this blog), yet with a personal touch.

I was late to the party, but over 150 tweets and I’m going pretty strong. I made fun of everybody on Twitter for several months before becoming one of them. I thought they were twits. I was wrong. I don’t know how long it will last, but for now, I think Twitter is helping me lead better. In a few ways:

*I never imagined how much inspiration I’d be able to spread to people through a simple daily encouraging thought. I try to get these out almost every morning. When people retweet, it multiplies this impact exponentially. That’s very rewarding and humbling to me. Right after I wake up, I get to begin my day by planting a seed of hope into the life of potential masses-both at Mill Road, and around the world.

*It’s forcing me to be more concise. To get to the point, already. I’m getting better at crafting punchy sermon points because my mind is naturally starting to process principles in a 140 character groove. I also have a bucket to put thoughts in and pour them back out that I didn’t have before. Not everything needs to go in a sermon or blog entry. Twitter is a streamlined distribution method for me to impart the little things God lays on my heart.

*It’s allowing me to open another window into my life for anyone who cares to look. I’m not deluded enough to think that everyone wants to know about my family going to an Open house at school. But for those who want insight into the balance of my ministry and family life, it’s now available. That allows me to keep this blog focused primarily on leadership issues.
Now let’s sum it all up (in 140 characters or less, of course!):

Twitter helps me multiply my influence, focus my thought, and share my life.I guess I’m a full fledged twit.

An Example of Sharing your Faith

While I was at Starbucks today, I had the opportunity to talk with Scott, a "Starbucks friend" and brother in Christ. I shared with him the witnessing opportunity that I had with Brick yesterday and how I still have an appointment with him real soon. I asked for his prayers, like I have been from everyone I share the story with, that God's Spirit would give Brick a heart of repentance to salvation.
When we finished talking, Scott noticed a lady named Karen sitting nearby. He took up on the opportunity to apologize to her that we were standing around talking about our faith, while she was trying to read her book. She said, "Oh that's not a problem." He continued his apologies by asking her to allow him buy her a drink. She was grateful for his generosity. So after buying her a coffee, he sat down for a moment to speak Life into Karen from God's Word. It was a powerful example of taking up on the opportunities that would often slip right around most believers, unless there was an intentional effort being made to share the power of God with someone.

Challenge to Share your faith (continued)

A little later after the copier Salesman left, the copier repair man came in. Now to give you a complete picture of this opportunity God has now put in front of me. Betty has been talking to this guy for the last six months or so, about his need to give his life to Christ. I came into the picture about three and half months ago. See this guy is young (under 35) and has spent most of his days chancing life. He has claimed to have medically died two or three times. Without a doubt he loves to do dangerous thrill seeking challenges, which has been confirmed to us by some of his co-workers. Understand that he has always been "engaging" in the conversations Betty has had with him, as well as the ones I began with him three and a half months ago. He never has displayed a sense of odd tension or awkwardness when talking about Christ. He has been a sceptic for most of his adult years, and has never hesitated to question why God would allow certain things to happen to people, if He were a loving God.
After my conversation with him three and a half months ago, he went on a medical leave of absence from work, because of a knee surgery. Just prior to his medical leave he found out that his cancer, that had been in remission, was now back in action again. So when I saw him yesterday I said, "You know the conversation I had with you right before your leave of absence from work?" "Oh yeah," he replied. "Have you had much of an opportunity to give it any more thought while you were off of work?" "Yes, that is one thing I have done a lot of lately- thinking. I've questioned why I was put here on this earth, and if I have actually accomplished what was meant for me to do." I told him that I would love to set down and talk to him about eternity and to try to answer some of his questions, if I can. And for the very first time, he responded by saying, "If you could help me make sense out of my life, then that would be great." This was a response unlike any response up to date. I said, "Hey that's what I'm here for; to help others make sense out of the senseless and puzzling questions in life." So pray for us as we make plans to get together soon. Pray that God will bring His conviction on Brick and that He will soften his heart to be receptive and responsive to the truth of God's word. Pray that he will repent and surrender his life to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

Challenge to Share your faith

My Third attempt at sharing my faith was an awesome experience. A saleman from Lang copiers came to the church office before lunch- which I had not eaten yet. It was another opportunity for me share my faith with someone. I've known this saleman for a couple of years now. I approach my conversation with him by asking, "Hey do you go to church anywhere?" He said that he did. I went on to ask him if he had ever come to the place where he realized that he needed to give his life to Jesus? He said, "Oh yeah, when I was a young man." I went on to ask him, "When you say that you gave your life to Jesus, what does that look like- what do you mean by that?" He was stumped and said, "I'm not sure what you want me to say." I said, "I don't have anything that I would expect for you to say, except what that looks like to you." He continued by saying, "well I've been a good person, and I've tried do right to those around me." To which I replied, "I had lived a good life as well, up until I had given my life to Christ. I thought that my goodness was good enough to get me to Heaven, but as someone had pointed out to me, my goodness was not enough to get me to Heaven, and if it had been, then Jesus was a fool to have died on the cross." At that point you could see the wheels turning in his head, as he said, "Wow I never thought of it like that." I continued to share with him how Jesus paid a price for my sins that I could never pay. I had realized that if I did not give my life to Jesus, I would split hell wide open. The conversation began to drift, so I challenged him to give more thought to our conversation. So pray for me as I will take the opportunity to follow-up with him at a different time.

Challenge to Share your faith

Okay. My second attempt to share my faith was a little less tragetic. I went into Subway to buy a 12" Subway melt to split with my wife. I started a conversation with the lady that was working behind the counter, who asked me how my day was going so far. I told her that God has given me an awesome day. She went on to explain that things haven't been going so good for her lately. So I inquired, "What do mean by that?" She explained how things got messed up with her Vectron service and she has been out of electricity for the past four days. When I asked how long it would continue to be that way, she said that she wasn't sure. Needless to say, God brought this need to my attention in order to commit prayer on her behalf. Please join me to pray for her- The lady at Subway.

Well, I made a challenge to all of my followers on Twitter to join me in sharing their faith with someone, before lunch time. And I have to say that I am quite embarrassed with my first attempt. It went like this; while I was sitting in Starbucks studying, I saw a man settle down at a nearby table with his coffee and a very thick book; which on a closer examination, was Entitled "Hitler." That's interesting, I thought; considering my dad was given a book on Hitler by one of the church members- some time last week. So I took this as a door of opportunity for me to share my faith- so I thought. I got up and approached the man as he had already began reading his book. I said, "so your reading a book on Hitler huh?" "Yes I am," he replied. I explained that my dad was reading a book that is out of print, on Hitler. "That's interesting," he replied. "Everyone is trying to say that we are in as bad economic times in our country today, as Germany was in the days of Hitler, but that we weren't even close to being that bad. He continued to explain how bad things were at that time.
As I stood and listened, I was stumped to know exactly were to go with this conversation, so I simply stated, "At least we can take confidence in the fact that God is in control," as though that had something to do with our present conversation.
As I look back on that feeble attempt to share my faith with someone, I bombed. I was just throwing a factual comment and forcing the issue.
Oh well, mark it down for the record. I thank God that He provides more opportunities to share him with others.