not about us

Reading: Matthew 9:35-38 NLT

35Jesus traveled through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went, he healed people of every sort of disease and illness. 36He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn't know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd. 37He said to his disciples, "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. 38So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields."



Thought/Story:
Jesus could have asked us to pray for the sheep. Or he could have asked the Father to save all the sheep…instead he asks us to pray for (and be) the harvest workers!

I came to know quite a lot about sheep while living on a farm in rural Virginia. There , the farm owner had a flock of 100 or so sheep that she would shear every year and sell the wool. Here is what I learned about sheep: They are not very smart animals. They would wander into swamps, or ponds, become waterlogged and die, without much struggle. They have no natural defense: they cannot outrun a predator,(many were run down and killed by local dogs) they literally cannot fight back. They rely on something (like a fence or barn) or someone (like a shepherd and his dogs) to give them protection.

Exercise:

To reach our friends and family, I’m increasingly convinced we have to start by listening to them. Just be yourself! Show sincere interest. People so need to be listened to. We don’t have to close the deal each time we talk to our friends. Go on a journey together. Listen. Pray. Pray some more!

“Don’t talk to them about God, until you have talked to God about them”
-quote from last Sundays sermon

Questions:
Do you feel guilt when it comes to “evangelism”? Or insecurity? Why?

Who are the people in your life who might be called “sheep without a shepherd?”

Would you start praying for them every day?(Hint: don’t get into a rut praying the same thing over and over: ask God one day to plant a thought or to have them hear about Him in a unique way or have an experience that draws them to God, etc)

Bare Feet

seismic.shift – mine to God’s
- “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” - Malachi 3:10


- Have you ever been afraid to take off your shoes in public? Or take off your socks for that matter? There is a small sense of fear that goes along with taking your shoes off while with other people. You have the fear that perhaps your feet might not smell as good as when you put your shoes on that morning. But, when you do, even if it’s in the safety of your own room at home the feeling is incredible. The freedom of your toes is breathtaking (in more ways than one).
The principal of my Christian high school would frequently preach to the students during our weekly chapel sessions. Being that the school was in the south and he happened to be from Connecticut he had some different phrases for things. Different figures of speech than we were used to. One of his favorites was saying that God had or was going to “Bless your socks off”. I never really liked it when he said that, mainly because I was full of myself in high school but also because I rarely wore socks. I hadn’t thought about that phrase or him since I graduated until I read this verse. But the figure of speech is an interesting analogy. The feeling you get after taking your shoes off is pure freedom. Imagine that feeling of blessing throughout everything a part of your lives. Stick with me, I’m not comparing God’s blessings to refreshed feet but what I am saying is that: Basically, God is asking for us not to hold anything back, to offer our resources to him but mainly to offer ourselves “as living sacrifices” as Paul says in Romans 12:2. Being that all we are and all we have belongs to God in the first place, why not give it all back to him? God is essentially saying that if we empty our personal storehouses and bring all of our selves, our desires, and our possessions to him he is going to bless our socks off. My dad always used to say that the hardest part about being a living sacrifice is that it hurts and we keep trying to get off the altar. So, I invite you to hop on the altar and make the shift from a mindset of mine to an attitude that recognizes God as owner and operator of our lives.

Take your shoes off and run some water over your feet. Feel the immediate sense of freedom and refreshment that this causes. Walk into your room and look at your things. In your mind imagine yourself (you can even do this if you want) writing on an entire pack of post-it notes “God’s”. Then after that imagine yourself putting the notes on all your stuff. Put them on your computer, your playstation, you’re TV. your dog, your guitar, your window, everything you can see. Feel the immediate sense of freedom and refreshment that this causes. If we acknowledge that God owns everything in the first place we are free from the bondage of materialism.

In what ways are you trying to get off the altar?
What could you be offering to God that you aren’t already?
Why are your shoes still on?
What are other ways that I could give back to God what is rightfully his?

Tell the Truth and Forget about it!

Scripture Reading: Zechariah 8:16-17, Ephesians 4:15, Proverbs 12:19, 22

So it was late Friday night and I was out with my friend Ryan who was older and really cool. We met with two girls and crammed into his Cherry Red Ford Pinto. Before this, I was on my way to my friend Sean’s house to spend the night, but hanging out with Ryan and these to girls seemed way cooler. I called Sean and gave him some lame excuse about how I wouldn’t be able to get to his house that night until much later that night.

The night wasn’t anything special, Ryan and I did what we always did, we rode our skateboards around empty parking lots, grinding curbs, hand rails and trying to clear gaps that seemed big to us. The only thing different about this night was that we had an audience. We had just met these two girls in a supermarket parking lot and apparently they had nothing better to do than watch us skate.

I ended up getting to Sean’s house really late that night. He was already asleep and I fell asleep with out a word. The next afternoon Sean was eating lunch and asked “What happened last night?” Without pause I lied to him about where I was and what I did. The truth was that I didn’t want him there because I was with Ryan and two really cute girls. ” With a smile on his face, all he said to me was, “Oh that’s cool. With that said, I headed down the hall with a knot in the pit of my stomach.

I turned and walked back into the kitchen and told Sean the truth about the night before. “I’m sorry,” I told him, “I was out with Ryan and two girls we met and were skating in the Stater Bros Parking lot and dude I totally ditched you and am totally sorry.”
“It’s ok.” He told me, I knew you were lying to me.” “You did?” I asked, “Sure!” he said with a smile. “Then why did you act like you believed me?” I asked, he told me, “It really looked like you wanted me to believe you so I played along.” My heart sank even further into my stomach and I got little teary eyed as I realized at that moment the kind of friend Sean was to me.

Few friends would take it on the chin and smile at you for the sake of you feeling better about yourself, but Sean was that kind of a friend. He was also the one who would tell me when I was acting like a jerk. He seemed to know just how to call me out and be a real friend to me. The truth was something he never hid from me, or anyone for that matter. I knew I could trust him to do what was best for me, whether it was telling me the brutal truth or pretending to believe me when I was not truthful and letting my conscience do its own work. There is so much freedom in never telling a lie. I read it most simply put like this,

“If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember anything.”
-Mark Twain

Tact, backed with the truth, is all it takes to speak the truth in love. It is an art that we as Christ followers need to learn to master. Speaking the truth in love will not only free up our minds from many of life’s worries, but also set others free in more ways than we can imagine.

Questions:
Are you the type of friend who tells your friend the truth even when it hurts?

Do you know people who never seem to tell it like it is?

Which is better, flattery that makes a person feel good, or truth that hurts?

Exercise: Be sure to tell the truth especially in the little things. Tell it straight and wrap it in love to others. Invite someone into your life this week to call you out in blunt ways, to tell you the truth, even if it stings. It will free you to focus on what needs to change in your own life and free others from having to keep things from you.

Prayer: Ask God to help you to be kind to others, to always make you ready with the truth wrapped into a kind word for someone who need one, especially when the truth hurts.

It Is Better To Give Than To Receive (Especially in a fight!)

Thursday Oct 6, 2005

Reading: John 13:3-5, Mark10:45, Phil 2:3-8

Thought:
Serving is like Boxing.. It is better to give than to receive. I know a pastor who is an ex-boxer. He is full of stories and facts about boxing and about life growing up on the streets of Philly. He told of time when he was in a place that was not welcoming of him being there. He was fighting the hometown favorite in the favorite’s hometown. He knew he could beet the guy and instead of just doing so he decided to shop boat a little. I guess he thought that he would become the next hometown hero. He did everything from beat on his chest, to howl, to wind his arm several times before he threw a punch, to dance in circles around this guy.

This made the crowd very angry and from what he told me they even started throwing tomatoes. (Yes, just like in the movies) The short of the story is that he ended up winning but barely got out with his own life. The police had been called before the fight was over in order to escort him out of the ring for his own safety. His manager was so mad at him for the display of showboating he really laid into him after they left the arena and even told his father that he would not work with his son anymore for the fact that he almost got them both mobbed and maybe killed.

What was the big deal? So he beat a guy and made it look fancy doing it, what is the matter with that? The point is not about who won or lost it was about pride and dignity. He stripped his opponent of both by beating him the way he did. So often it seems that people will serve with the idea that they will get something out of it. My friend the ex-boxer served this guy up a woopin but did it in such a way that he was hated for it. What he should have done was kept his mouth shut, won the fight and quietly left the ring.

Questions:
How often do we serve with the motive of being recognized or even thanked?

Jesus set the example many times in his life here on earth, by being God and serving us.

How much more should we be willing to serve others in a humble way if Christ is willing to serve us?

What are some ways you can serve other and be a blessing to them?

Exercise:
Pay attention to what is happening in your house and take a chore for a family member without being asked. Whether it be cleaning the bathroom, doing the laundry (Don’t mix lights and darks or shrink anything) or even making someone’s bed for them. Look for ways you can be a blessing to someone else this week and do it. What you get out of it is a deep fulfillment that only comes from doing these things for others and who knows what else it may just save your life?

Pray:
Ask God to show you ways to be a servant to someone else. Pray for those whom you wish to serve and who serve you.

Ice Cubes or Warm water?

Wednesday Oct 5, 2005

Ice Cubes or Warm water?

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:29

Thought:
Have you ever gotten a cup of cold water poured on you in the shower? It is funny to watch but not fun to have happen. The same is true of insults, though they are funny to hear sometimes, they are not fun to have hurled at you. I heard it said once that it takes 10 compliments to make up for 1 insult. I don’t know if 10 is really the magic number or not but I do know that insults hurt and can have a lasting effect on a person.

I have heard it said that we all have buckets that others pour into. Warm water is from those who encourage us and ice-cubes are from those who say unkind words that sting and hurt us.

People are drawn to those who share warm water. Awhile ago, we decided to test this theory and gave out sticky notes one week just to see what would happen. The results were beyond what we could have ever imagined. Our teens took the sticky notes and were set loose on their teachers, parents, friends and even people they didn’t get along with. Most of the notes were not signed but said things like “I believe in you!” or “I’m praying for you!” or “You are cool” some even wrote “Jesus loves you!”.

One teacher stopped class when she found a note and demanded to know who left it on her desk. This was a teacher who had given this student a hard time for being so outright with her Christianity. When the girl raised her hand she said, “I just thought you could use some encouragement”, the teacher grinned from ear to ear and said, “Thank you! You don’t know how much this means to me.” From that point on the teacher would eagerly call on this student and really listened to her thoughts. She encouraged her in her convictions, though she did not agree with her beliefs in God. It is amazing how far a little encouragement can go.

Questions:
Is your bucket full of warm water that feels good or ice cubes that can cut and are
chilling?

Are you filling the buckets of others with warm water or ice-cubes?
Think back to an insult that hurt your feelings…Are you willing to let it go and forgive them?

Did you know that God only thinks good thoughts about you?
It is true!!!

Exercise:
Find a sticky pad or some 3x5 card or something and write a few notes of encouragement. Make sure you give them to the people in your family, friends and give out to a few people you may not like or think don’t like you. You don’t have to sign them but you can if you want to.

Pray:
Ask God to give you words that are warm to say to others. Pray that the notes you give out will get to those who really need some encouraging words.