Jesus told us He has been given authority over all things (Matthew 28:18).  However, we stop there and go, YES HE DOES!  He has authority over this sickness in my body, he has authority over that demon I see around every corner, he has authority over that jerk at work that keeps ticking me off.   But we STOP.

Jesus goes on to say, “THEREFORE, GO!!!!! and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded you.”

I want to ask you, when was the last time you had the thrill to GO?  When was the last time your heart was pumping because that person was getting ready to choose Christ?  If it’s been a while, it’s been too long!!!  Stop just doing Christian things, and do what matters!  Tell someone about Christ.  Lead them to the only one who knows their situation and is the solution.  We’re here to bring others to Jesus, but we feel like if we fill our lives with Christian things, meeting, or activities that’s good enough.  Don’t believe the LIE!

“He who wins souls is wise” Proverbs 11:30

Not settling for less…
TJ

In Matthew 26 we see the familiar story of the woman who anointed Jesus with very expensive perfume (remember the story he said would always be told with the Gospel? See Matt 26:6-13).

Every one of his disciples has a problem with it.  But one must have really been frustrated: Judas Iscariot.  He was trusted, he was in charge of the money for the group, and he had written a book, “10 Ways to Eliminte Debt and Prosper”.  Plainly put, he was smart and knew stuff.

So when this stupid woman pours this perfume that would have cost a year’s wages on Jesus’ feet he knew that it was HIS job to point out what a waste it was.  HOWEVER, Jesus violates our expertise (see Isaiah 29:14) and says that we’ll always have poor people with us, but not him. This ticks off Judas, and the next verse (26:14) he asks what they’ll give him to betray Jesus.

Here’s my question:  Where might God be asking us to pour out our perfume on Him instead of counting our nickels and dimes?

I am far more stingy with my God than He is with me, and that MUST change.  He wants us to be wise, but I think He loves it when we’re extravagant with grace, generostiy, and love toward Him or others.

We’ve gotta be more generous, because if we’re not generous with Him, we’ll sell Him for our own ego, desires, and profit.

As I’m watching the Inauguration I’ve been thinking about the historical pendulum that has swung as we’ve gone from one president to another.  Just look at the last four presidents…

President George H.W. Bush was viewed as out of touch with our economy in the last days of his term, so they elected President Bill Clinton to boost the economy.

President Bill Clinton was viewed as immoral by many when he was in office, so we decided to elect a conservative and moral president, George W. Bush.

President George W. Bush was viewed by many as too independent and dividing, so we decided to elect a diverse, uniting President Barack Obama.

Who knows what the next four years will hold, but I’m excited!  Who knows?  In 4-8 years we may be wanting to swing the pendulum back the other way.

Martin Luther King Jr. saw through the eyes of God to the year 2008 with our first African American president being elected, when he said, “I have a dream”. I love hearing the stories of these people who lived through the civil rights fight, and who now are seeing with their own eyes the dream at its fullest.

It’s no longer a dream. It’s a reality. It’s an honor to be a part of history in our day.

I’ve been amazed as I’ve studied the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. these last couple of months.  The ways he responded when hate was thrown his way was so much like Jesus.

In 1956 he decide that he was going to keep his family in the South despite all the hate that surrounded him.  He had a mission.  One day a group of white men threw a bomb at Dr. King’s house that landed on the front porch and blew up the front of his house.  An angry mob of his friends came around the house and said he needed to retaliate.  However he responded:

“We must love our white brothers no matter what they do to us.  If I am stopped, this movement will not stop, for what we are doing is right.  What we are doing is just – and God is with us.”  I believe God blessed the early parts of the civil rights movement because they responded like Jesus.  You cannot obtain godly objectives in ungodly ways such as hate and unforgiveness or retaliation.

Check out this video of Dr. King’s last speech the night before he was shot.  His confidence comes from the God he spent time with.  Check it out:

In Genesis 29 we see the familiar story of Jacob being given Leah as his wife before Rachel.  He was frustrated because he really wanted Rachel.  But now he had Leah.

I used to be one of those pastors who was always looking for a “Rachel” church (you know, the postmodern, forward thinking church with no problems – haha).  But just as Laban said to Jacob, God says to us, “That’s not the way we do things around here.”  So I would end up in a “Leah” church.  Not the church I wanted, and I was going to pout about it.  God says though, “If you want a Rachel church, you gotta work for a Rachel church.”  You see, God doesn’t just give out Rachel churches to the untested and immature. He guards it and we have to work for it.  But that doesn’t mean we don’t love the “Leah” churches and people that we’re with right now.  They aren’t some pithy little church that doesn’t deserve us.  They are Jesus’ bride prepared for us RIGHT NOW!

And when it comes down to it, Leah produced more children than Rachel.  Maybe some our biggest days of fruit are right in front of us, if we’ll just love the “Leah” church in our life. The same goes with churches, if you get a Leah pastor when you wanted a Rachel pastor.  We must learn to work together for God’s Kingdom and see many saved.  That’s what we’re here for!

It’s so easy to get me-centered in our world today.  This chorus of one of my favorite hymns has brought me back lately:

“Make me a blessing, make me a blessing
Out of my life, may Jesus shine.
Make me a blessing, O Savior I pray.
Make me a blessing to someone today.”

Instead of praying to be blessed, we should pray to be a blessing and we will find ourselves blessed by loving others.

Over the years through Christian college, and early years of ministry so far, I’ve had so many opinions of the type of church I want to be a leader in.  I say to myself, “I don’t like what that church does” or “I’d like to do that”.  I want to be a Willowcreek, Lifechurch, or NorthPoint. I could do this and this and this.

But that would be a HUGE MISTAKE.  God called me where I’m at right now.  God has only equipped me to be at the point I’m at now.  To move too quick or too slow in his plan would spell certain disaster.  God is growing me every day, and that’s important to know when you’re in a church.  Because if you’ve stopped growing, you’ve started dying.  I want to be alive where I’m at right now with WIDE EYES ready for what He has for me TODAY. And I serve at REAL Church in Hamtramck, MI – God’s amazing place in a city within the city of Detroit.

Plus, I love the urban and city areas.  I don’t want to name a church Willowcreek in an urban area, maybe “Bling for the King”, “Amen Alley” or “Heaven and Hoopties”.

Stop looking over the fence, HE LEADS YOU IN GREEN PASTURES.   Stop getting ahead of Him.

TJ

God’s not lacking in promises or the character of who He is. I just don’t believe. Why?

This is from my journal yesterday. I meant to post it yesterday, but here it is:

Genesis 15:11 – “Vultures swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared          them off.”
(read this in context – God is making a covenant with Abram)

The vultures of Hell will always be trying to get between the covenant that God has made with you. They try to eat away at God’s work. God’s job is to make the covenant with us. Our job is to protect it. Protect it from lies the enemy puts in our head. Protect it from sin. Protect it from unbelief.