Waiting outside the door…

As I waited at the front door of my green room for Nick Vujicic to arrive on our premises, I paced back and forth as it would be our meet for the very first time, I WAS REALLY NERVOUS! Our service was scheduled to begin at 7:30p.m. and the crowds started lining up outside at 4:30p.m. on a Friday! I had seen Nicks’ inspirational video messages on the internet and on multiple Televison Networks that he had filmed from Africa – India – America and other parts of the world. But, I had never met NICK in person, face to face!

One of my staff members gives me the motion and says; “Nick just pulled up!” (I am REALLY nervous now!) I look over my left shoulder and see his Cadillac Escalade pull up at the parking spot that leads straight back to the Green Room. I peek on the status of the completion on his parking condition. The car’s engine is turned off by now and I see Nick’s head being lowered from the back of the Escalade. I felt like ‘OH MY GOD”, Nick is actually here. I mean here at Victory Outreach Oxnard!

What many people don’t understand is that I had been trying to get Nick to my church for 3 years and Nick only lives 30 minutes away from my house. Nick was finally here – YES!

In the Green Room…

Nick is the first one off his vehicle and the first one in the green room. After his sound check we sit down across the dinner table and begin talking as if we knew each other for the past 10 years. Nick has a gifting about him that knows how to take away somebody’s shaking nerves in an instant!
After Nick’s speaking engagement that night, (Which by the way, we had an enormous projected video feed on screen outdoors in a heated section of our parking lot because the crowds were too big) we find ourselves back in the green room talking away over a freshly opened grilled “Ribeye” steak made by one of our Victory Outreach Chefs. It didn’t take no more than 3 minutes for me to have to second look if I was having dinner with a man that was born without limbs! Only if you were looking up and down you would realize that he had no limbs, but his behavior, actions, confidence and JOY said that he had MORE limbs than anyone else in that room that night. He begin to tell me about his family history and up-bringing as a child. It was as if I was having an actual “live” audio book read to me from his book “Life Without Limbs” by the actual author himself in person! It can’t any get better than that! Nick has a personality that is so humorous and is also good about laughing at other people’s jokes too! I never met such a great encourager like Nick, but I must say that he is one extra-ordinary VISIONARY! He begin to tell me about a vision that he has to purchase a mega-tent that he can travel with to host revivals in! I saw personally how Nick really does have a heart for people. He has a heart for souls, he has GOD’S HEART! He began telling me that he holds the “Guinness World Record” for giving the most hugs to people in one hour. He is a humble man. Nick has preached in over 54 other countries worldwide and is taking the time to preach to his backyard (Ventura, County). He has preached in Anaheim Angles Stadium, and to crowds that rank in the masses. I asked him WHY he accepted the invitation to Victory Outreach Oxnard. This is a man that has had to say no to over 30,000 invitations to speak becuase 24hrs in a day does not permit him to say yes to them all, because it’s humanly impossible. He pauses for a few seconds when I ask him why Oxnard? He answers me by saying; “Bill Bright (October 19, 1921 – July 19, 2003) Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ said; “There is going to be a Coming Revival in the Ventura County area in the end times”. I responded with my jaw dropped “Wow!”. I assumed that Nick is going to be part of that revival as is so Victory Outreach Oxnard. Nick’s ministry and Victory Outreach Oxnard will be partnering soon to do something “MEGA” in Ventura County!!!

I learned so much from Nick that evening, there is not enough time to type it out. I know one thing. the name of Nick’s Ministry has way more influence in my life than it ever did in the past! “LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS”. (So true!)

My family and I were able to meet Nick’s fiancee “Kanae” and have a great time with her and Nick’s team over dinner. I beleive Nick has found the right woman for his life. She is well aware of Nick’s vision and supports it 100% and is already with her hands to the plow in his great ministry.

If you have not already purchased Nick’s Book “Life Without Limits”, get it as soon as possible. It will change your way of thinking!

Here is what I have already been able to pull out from his book.

“I can’t put a hand on your shoulder to reassure you, but I can speak from the heart” – Nick V.

“I’m officially DISABLED, but I’m truly ENABLED because my lack of limbs” – Nick V.

“If you feel frustrated right now, that’s okay. Your sense of frustration means you want more for life than you have right now”. – Nick V.

“My life is an adventure still being written and so is yours” – Nick V.

“At first I was not willing to confront that what was really wrong with me wasn’t my body, it was the limits I put on myself and my limited vision of the possibilities for my life”. – Nick V.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

• God’s word makes it clear that the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is…

Love..

..and JOY

A member of Alcoholics Anonymous once sent columnist Ann Landers the following:

1. We drank for happiness and became unhappy.
2. We drank for joy and became miserable.
3. We drank for sociability and became argumentative.
4. We drank for sophistication and became obnoxious.
5. We drank for friendship and made enemies.
6. We drank for sleep and awakened without rest.
7. We drank “medicinally” and acquired health problems.
8. We drank for relaxation and got the shakes.
9. We drank to make conversation easier and slurred our speech.
10. We drank to feel heavenly and ended up feeling like hell.
11. We drank to forget and were forever haunted.
12. We drank for freedom and became slaves.
13. We drank to erase problems and saw them multiply.
14. We drank to cope with life and invited death.

• Let me give you a definition of “joy.” “Joy is an evidence of the presence of God in your life.” If God is in your life, if you are filled with the Spirit of God, then this fruit of the Spirit will be obvious in your life.

• Now don’t mistake happiness for joy. It’s easy to do that. The Bible mentions “joy” or “rejoicing” 330 times. But it only mentions “happiness” 26 times.

• Happiness depends upon what happens to you. So if all the circumstances are right, then you can be happy. BUT JOY COMES FROM THE INSIDE no matter what is HAPPENING AROUND YOU, – PERIOD!

A NUMBER ONE COMPETITOR OF JOY..

1. UNRESOLVED GUILT 

“If you can forgive yourself, then you will stop avoiding yourself” – Tim Storey

• A lot of people can accept the forgiveness of God, but can’t accept their own forgiveness.

• If you feel like you can’t smile these days because your competitor has cut in on your race, pray what David prayed.. Psalms 51:12“Restore to me the joy of your salvation…”

• Go ahead, lift your head up, smile and get on with walking forward. After all, – THE PAST IS THE PAST.

¹⁷ When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? ²⁰ How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

Numbers 13:26-33

26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

• Our text gives us an entire LESSON on what Attitude can do for you or what Attitude won’t do for you.

• This text shows us two groups of people;

1. Positive People
2. Negative People

• People that are successful do not have fewer challenges than those who do not succeed. In fact, they may both be facing the same challenges.

• THE DIFFERENCE? – They RESPOND to difficulties differently. Why? Because the SEE them differently!

• Joshua and Caleb saw their challenges differently from the rest of the LEADERS that were sent out to EXPLORE the land of Canaan.

• Moses sent out LEADERS to a VISION TEST. (“Explore” the Land)

• Do you think that God doesn’t know what a situation looks like? Of course he does. He wants to see if WE KNOW what it looks like.

• Our problem is that WE SEE THINGS, NOT AS THEY ARE BUT AS WE ARE.

Quote:

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies WITHIN US”.

THE FIVE “BIG” CHALLENGES THAT PEOPLE FACE

1.    DISCOURAGEMENT

There are two kinds of people in the world:

A.   Splatters – They hit rock bottom, fall apart and stick to the bottom like super glue.

B.   Bouncers – they hit rock bottom, pull themselves back together and bounce right back up again.

Question: Are you going to GIVE UP or GET UP?

2.    PROBLEMS

• Everyone has problems; Bill gates, Donald Trump and even the Apple Corporation has problems.

3.    CHANGE

• This is what was happening in our text. Moses CALLED FOR CHANGE!

• All the existing leaders that were LUKEWARM didn’t want to EMBRACE CHANGE.

• They were so out of shape that the minute they saw CHALLENGE in the EXPLORATION they immediately PROFESS defeat.

4.    FEAR

Destructive Effects of Fear

A.   Fear breeds more Fear.

B.   Fear causes Inaction.

C.    Fear causes Distraction.

Quote;

“I’ve been through some terrible things in my life, a few of which actually happened”.

5.    FAILURE

Quote;

“A man is defeated not by his opponents, but by himself”

• Out of all the leaders that MOSES sent out to a VISON TEST, only two of them passed the EYE EXAM!

• Why was that? – ATTITUDE!

• Some things in life are beyond your control, some things are within your control. In other words; “THE GREATEST DIFFERENCE MAKER IN YOUR LIFE LIES WITHIN YOU – NOT OTHERS = YOUR ATTITUDE!

• You got to start “LUVIN YOUR ATTITUDE”!

• When I say Luvin your Attitude, I don’t necessarily mean to love what you have now, but to add love to it to make it a better thing in your life. (I.E. “Luvin your garden, Luving your yard, etc.)

“WHEN YOU LOVE YOUR ATTITUDE, AMAZING THINGS HAPPEN”

1.    THERE’S A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR APPROACH TO LIFE.

2.    THERE’S A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE.

3.    THERE’S A DIFFERENCE IN HOW YOU FACE CHALLENGES.

Demosthenes, He was called the greatest orator of ancient Greece. He the worst speech impediment ever. He overcame it by reciting verses with pebbles in his mouth and speaking over the roar of the waves at the seashore.

Martin Luther, If you’ve studied Church History; you know him as the father of the Reformation. He made use of the time he was confined in the castle of Wartburg to translate the Bible into German.

Beethoven, He wrote his greatest symphonic masterpieces after he had become deaf.

- Chuck Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than money, education, circumstances, failures, successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company.. a church.. a home.

We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…

… WE ARE IN CHARGE OF OUR ATTIUDES”.

-

• Outreaches to the poor, homeless, addicts, etc. We in Victory Outreach have a ministry called “Twilight Treasures” during Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Christmas many of our teams go out and give dinner baskets, toys for their children, etc. Many of the mega churches are doing this on a consistent basis, not only during holidays.

2. Be an accessible pastor

The late Jerry Falwell once advised pastors to “walk slowly through the crowd.” Minutes of being accessible before and after services can save you hours in the office and on the phone.

When pastors simply stand still before and after worship services or in designated reception areas, members and visitors can share in a moment what could have been a 30-minute office visit. Even then most pastors of large churches still have members that may never meet them face to face or simply shake hands. For some people mere one-on-one direct eye contact and a smile can create a sense of acknowledgment that makes meeting with delegated staff members more acceptable.

Even Jesus needed to multiply ministry through the disciples and spent most of his time with them.

3. Multiply leaders

Unless you’re able to multiply leaders, your ministry may well become a one-generation event or a curse to your successor. New leaders and new groups increase ownership in shared ministry that can allow continued growth during times of conflict and community transitions.

These multiplied leaders ignite and invite great growth. Churches respond to the rate of numerical gain in new believers and members in different ways.

In Acts 6:1 this multiplied growth resulted in both neglect and conflict that was resolved by the addition of both leaders and ministry.

Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of Hawaii’s New Hope Christian Fellowship (14,000 attendance), has masterfully demonstrated the vital role of multiplying leaders by leaders mentoring leaders. Mac Brunson, pastor of the 7,500-attendance First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, also leads a church that for decades had modeled the importance of multiplying Sunday school classes and new leaders.

As a pastor, do you focus on discipling people in general or leaders in particular? How can you multiply your impact by investing time and energy primarily in those who will lead ministries within your church and community?

4. Dream big — really big

Bill Bright often shared with Campus Crusade staff that minds and hearts are not inflamed by small ideas.

My good friend Pastor Philip Lacrue Jr. (G.A.N.G. International Overseer) quotes “Little minds only have wishes, Big minds have causes”.

When founder/Pastor Sonny Arguinzoni began his pioneering church Victory Outreach, East L.A. he didn’t let the size of his congregation determine the masses he would reach! With a small group of ex-drug addicts he would hold mega city crusades in downtown Los Angeles, CA. – He dreamed big! Today, his dream has become a reality with over 600 churches/ministries worldwide in over 43 countries.

You can plan big events even though they may not be able to draw thousands or hundreds. How can you bring a lot of people into your property for a family fun event, concert, comedy night, or special event? Creating a buzz in your church and community will do a lot to help people think of your church as a happening place to be.

5. Get your focus off your facilities

Just when you think your buildings are large enough, as important as they are to ministry, you realize that you must discover more innovative ways of multiplying leaders and groups in your limited space.

In Luke 14:23, Jesus said, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (NKJV). He meant more than just the capacity of our classrooms and worship spaces. He was talking about multitudes and myriads (tens of thousands). In John 14:2-3 Jesus also said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions…” indicating both the location of his “house” and the magnitude as being “many mansions.” We are talking kingdom-size big.

American churches have had multi-site churches for at least 100 years, when First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, had about one-third of its Sunday morning attendance in off-campus sites. Third world mega churches have had multi-site churches for at least 20 years.

The Church Growth Today list of the 200 largest U.S. churches indicates that 55 of the 100 largest churches (7,100 to 46,300 attendance) report having multi-site campuses. Twelve of the 100 reported having five or more sites. The next 100 largest churches (attend-ance of 5,000 to 7,000) have an additional 42 churches with more than one campus. Three of these churches report having five or more sites.

7. Keep hoping, no matter what

One of the myths about America’s mega churches is that they all had easy growth. The truth is that there are churches among them that faced dreadful challenges and were about to close their doors. Some, like many smaller churches, did cease to exist.

Second Baptist Church of Houston, now the second largest church in the nation, had experienced devastating decline until Edwin Young (father of Ed Young) came as their pastor with part of the staff from his previous church. NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Michigan, was formerly Temple Baptist Church (Redford, Detroit) that had been in steep decline for three decades. Today NorthRidge is the largest church in Michigan.

Do what you can, with all that you can, with as many as you can, as soon as you can for the kingdom’s sake. You cannot do everything, but together we can all do more than we have done. Hopefully, you are more aware that mega churches, like smaller churches, have no monopoly on ideas, on growth, on pain, on opposition, or on God’s Holy Spirit.

I’m already hearing of people getting jobs and raises. I have met people personally last weekend who’s names were placed on the “Great wall of Prayer”, and we have all heard the testimony of our Church Attorney Phil Dunn who has been cured of cancer. There is NO DOUBT that God is in a season of answering prayers at Victory Outreach Church of Oxnard.

What Philippians 4:19 says is that the RICHES are RESERVED for you! So start RAISING your level of EXPECTATION.

I received a phone call yesterday from Brother Ronald Maldonado telling me he got pre-approved for a loan to buy his house. I prophesied under God’s anointing that God said for him to buy a house and he walked into his future! God’s riches are reserved for God’s givers. Keep on giving keep on believing for a raise, it’s all yours! Throw open your arms. It’s time to receive the harvest you are earning through all your hard work and effort.

Hebrews 10:35 states; “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward”. The phrase “recompense of reward” is from the greek word “misthapodosia”. The word “mistha” is the word MONEY, SALARY. However, when it it becomes the word “misthpodosia it doesn’t just refer to a payment, but to a REIMBURSEMENT or SETTLEMENT! It can be compared to the reparations to cover all that vanished due to war!

Hebrews 6:10 says; “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which you have showed toward his name….” God is sure to remember it all! And He will see to it that you are fully REIMBURSED for everything you spent to accomplish the assignment He gave to you. He will make a SETTLEMENT with you for the past expenses that would make anyone want to rejoice!

GET READY, GET SET, G I V E!

Pastor Fernie Franco

Victory Outreach Oxnard

Quote = “The longest distance from here to there in God’s Kingdom is a “SHORT CUT”. *

TEXT: LUKE 12:13-21

The crowd numbered into the thousands, according to Luke, when someone from the crowd shouted to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

It’s amazing how family fights over stuff, It seems to have never change from age to age.

In this passage, instead of refereeing a family feud, Jesus spins a story about personal greed.

It’s a story about a foolish farmer.

From it we discover some principles for a life that really matters.

I. LIFE IS MORE THAN SUCCESS.

• I think most of us would like to make something of ourselves. There’s an urgency inside us to climb every mountain and follow every rainbow until we find our dream.

• There’s nothing wrong with a dream or a hard working person!

• As a matter of fact. Aggressive, self-starting people, who rise to new challenges are the kind of people I admire and enjoy being around. They never say never. They never wonder why. They never expect anybody else to do it for them. They roll up their sleeves and go to work. (Pastor Art)

• The farmer in this story is clearly successful. “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.”

• Crops don’t get planted on their own, tended by themselves, or harvested without some help. He plowed the ground. He planted the seed. He chopped the weeds. He beat the weather to get it in the barn.

• I like this guy! He doesn’t complain about his lot in life. He makes his lot in life productive.

• The problem with success is that it is a moving target. If you don’t do better tomorrow than you did today you feel like a failure.

• Quote = “Many people spend their lives climbing the ladder of success only to come to the end and realize it was leaning against the wrong wall”.

• After all, everything you’ve ever wanted will never be enough. Solomon, who achieved everything he set goal for himself, sadly says, “Vanity, vanity all is vanity.” (worthless)

(True Story)

In 1923, a group of the world’s most successful men met at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel. They included the president of the largest steel corporation in America, the greatest wheat speculator in the states, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, a member of the President’s cabinet, the smartest investor on Wall Street, the future director of the World Bank for International Settlements, and the head of the world’s largest monopoly.

Within seven years, Charles Schwab died in debt. Arthur Cutter died abroad in obscurity (unknown). Richard Whitney became insolvent (Unable to pay his debts). Albert Fall was pardoned from prison so he could die at home. Jesse Livermore, Leon Fraser, and Ivar Krueger all committed suicide. Life is more than success, for life is a moving target.

II. LIFE IS MORE THAN STUFF

• The person that Jesus is telling us about had a lot of stuff, but stuff rots and rusts and molds and STUFF gets in the way.

• (Not too long ago I preached a message titled: “Do you got the stuff?”)

• Listen to his predicament. It is a familiar story. The man with a lot of stuff says; “What shall I do? I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger barns and there I will store all my grain and goods.”

• He had a lot of stuff. So do we. You might not think you do, but you do (Get my sermon, “Do you got the stuff?:)

• There is a bumper sticker around which says, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.”

• The truth is the one who dies with the most toys, dies. That is the reality of life. George Carlin said, “The essence of life is trying to find a place to put all your stuff.” In a real way he is probably right though he was telling a joke. A close friend of mine owns mini-warehouses. Every time I see him I ask, “How’s business?” And with a big smile he says, “Business could never be better because America is full of stuff.”
• We have 32,000 self-storage businesses nationwide containing 1.3 billion feet of rentable space. One hundred million storage containers are sold by Rubbermaid each year so that we have some place to store our stuff. In fact, in the Tennessean today you can read that professional organizers will come to your house for as much as $75.00 per hour and organize your stuff for you so you can have a place to store it in a convenient manner.
• Life is more than your stuff. Life is more than your accomplishments. Life is more than your accumulation. Life is more than all the baggage you have, some of which you do not know what to do with. Life is more than what you have accumulated.

III. LIFE IS MORE THAN SECURITY

…Then I shall say to myself “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry”’ (Luke 12:19).

Since September 11, 2001, the world has been obsessed with security. We now have a whole department of the Federal government called Homeland Security. We stay engaged in a war that won’t go away trying to make the world safe.

Requests for elaborate home security systems have increased greatly in the last two years. You can’t board an airplane or attend a ballgame without being security conscious. If the purpose of Al Queda was to instill fear in America, they have succeeded.

Jesus said, “Fear not those who can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both the body and soul in hell.” Life is more than being safe. Life is about faith, hope and love. It’s about the courage to carry on, the determination to hang in there when the going is rough and the enemy is real. There’s more to life than being secure.

IV. A LIFE THAT REALLY MATTERS IS A SOULFUL LIFE

But God said to him, “You fool. This very night your soul will be required of you. Then whose shall those things be which you have accumulated?” Jesus asked it another way, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, to forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Soul is the real you; it’s the real me. Soul is what makes us do what we do. The Bible is clear. Guard your soul. Nourish your soul. Don’t sell your soul. In a culture that is rich in things and poor in soul, we need to hear these words.

Is it well with your soul? We expand our minds, improve our relational skills, tend to our psychological well-being, exercise to stay physically fit, but what are we doing to keep our souls in shape?

Mike Yaconelli, author and founder of youth specialties said, “Until a few months ago, I had no idea I’d lost my soul. In the busyness and clatter of my life, as I traveled all over the world serving God, I thought my soul was just fine. But it wasn’t. I spent hours every day doing God’s work, but not one second doing soul work. I was consumed by the external and oblivious to the internal. In the darkness of my soul, I was stumbling around bumping into the symptoms of my soul less-ness. I was busy, superficial, friendless, afraid, cynical, but I didn’t even know where all these negative parts of my life were coming from. Then I began to learn there is a difference between believing in Jesus and being with Jesus, talking to Jesus and letting Jesus talk to me, acquainted with God out there, but a stranger to the God in here. Slowly my soul was reawakened by a loving Father calling me by name. I found my soul again.” A life that really matters is a soulful life.

V. A LIFE THAT REALLY MATTERS IS A SAVED LIFE

Salvation is to know that someone beyond us must do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. “Zaccheus was a wee little man. A wee little man was he. He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.” Did you ever wonder what heart hunger caused this chief tax collector to go to such extremes to see Jesus? It was not for gain or worldly pleasure. He had all these. Zaccheus was not only a tax collector, he was a chief tax collector. When the world has given all its pleasures and you have more plaques than will fit on your walls, there remains a hunger in the heart that God alone can satisfy.

Jesus sees Zaccheus lurching there, a little man up a tree. He calls him down. He invites himself to lunch. Before dessert is served, Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”

We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

Spread the tidings all around, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

Bear the news to every land, climb the steeps and cross the waves,

This our song of victory, Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

A life that really matters is a saved life. We need to be rescued from the miry clay of me, my, and I and have our feet planted on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.

VI. A LIFE THAT REALLY MATTERS IS A SIGNIFICIANT LIFE

In 1888, Alfred Nobel picked up a French newspaper and read his own obituary. His brother had died and by mistake, the newspaper printed Alfred’s obituary instead. In it, Alfred Nobel was remembered as the dynamite king, the merchant of death, a person who had amassed a great fortune out of explosives used extensively in wars. Alfred Nobel didn’t like what he read. He set out to make a better name for himself. He established among other things the Nobel Peace Prize, which today continues to honor persons around the world who have championed the cause of peace. Alfred Nobel moved from success to significance.

All of us have within our bodies a fatal disease. We have a terminal illness called death. As a current country song puts it, “It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you. It’s what you leave behind you when you go.” Who shall deliver us from our foolish ways? Who will save us from ourselves? Where is the life you have lost in living? Why not a life that really matters?

The advice of Jesus is this: Don’t look for short cuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easy going formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff even though crowds of people do. The way to life, to God, is vigorous and requires total attention (Matthew 7:13-14). So go for it. Don’t live a foolish life. Go for a faithful life. We don’t need bigger barns and bigger houses. What we really need is a bigger life! So why not a life that really matters?

INTRODUCTION:

It’s estimated that out of every 11,000 signals we receive from our senses, our brain only consciously processes 40. Therefore, we have to purposely target our bad habits, then WORK toward BREAKING them.

• Habits first begin as a single-thought, then they become a multitude of thoughts, which evolve into actions, then habits; Our habits make up our character, and our character dictates our life.

• Your ability to stop that initial negative thought from becoming a multitude of negative thoughts will determine your success this year.

• If you know how to change your habits, then even a small effort can create big changes.

TEXT: MATTHEW 21:6-11

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.  A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”  “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

• This day in the bible, the singing and praising reached such hype in Jerusalem that the city was ‘shaken.’ The KJV translation says, the city was ‘moved.’  The NIV uses the word “stirred”.

• But never forget. For Jesus, shaking, stirring, and moving are not enough (it is only the beginning for many).

• The same people that were “stirred up” were the same people “slaying him”.

• This past week we have had a “stirring event.” The party, The Storey (Tim) The messages, and meetings, stirred our hearts, but the question is, “Will we changed?” Will we break bad habits in 2011?

THREE AREAS ONLY JESUS CAN CHANGE:

1. HEAD

• The head is the control center of each one of us and represents our ‘mind’.

2. HABITS

• Habits are the great killers of a passionate spiritual life.
• Habits in a life are generally what controls life.
• We ask, do “bad habits mean I am not saved?” if you are “stirred but not changed,” going back to those habits will be easy because you’ll have no Holy Spirit to assist.

3. HEART

• The heart is a dead giveaway. We will never rise above what is locked away in our heart.
• Make no mistake, people know what is in your heart, it is the most transparencies of your personality.

“Out of the heart the mouth speaks”

“Out of the overflow of the heart flows the issues of life”

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he

• Honestly,  you and I have no power to change our heart, it takes a professional. – Jesus Christ

• A bad heart is bad news.

• Pastor Julius knows (heart attack). When a heart goes bad, the person KNOWS something has to be done because it is impossible to live without a working heart.

• In the same way, to be stirred and not changed is to have a heart that is bad, diseased, and deceitful.

It’s not enough to be stirred, or shaken, it is required that our hearts be changed

• Once the heart is turned the feet will follow!

CLOSE:

• The nation of Israel, under king Ahaz, had developed many bad habits,  his son, Hezekiah set out to remove these habits from the people.

• The priniciple he performed to removing the bad hapbits were..

I. BEGIN IMMEDIATELY

2 Chron. 29:3 “In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them”.

• The best time to deal with a bad habit is NOW!

• To delay only allows the habit to get engrained deeper in our lives.

• Hezekiah is the son of Ahaz – one of Israel’s worst kings. Hezekiah had 16 years of bad habits to correct.

Hezekiah correction:

1. Hezekiah got things right with God – repairing the temple (the place God had chosen as his home)

a He opened the doors – Access to God

b He repaired the doors – Priority of God

Six Steps to Breaking Bad Habits:

1.    Change your environment. Certain environments are breeding grounds for certain behaviors.  You must consciously change your environment.

• • If you’re addicted to food, you may need to get all of the junk food out of your house and create a plan to never purchase it again.  If you’re in a bad relationship, you may want to create an environment that doesn’t include the other person.

2.    Extinguish the initial negative thought. As soon as a negative thought comes to you, you should say,       “Cancel, Cancel, insufficient, insufficient” and proceed to think of something positive.  Never think about the negative habit again.

3.    Surround yourself with church friends who are already what you want to become. Limit your time with people who aren’t what you want to become (e.g. If you want to quit smoking, you can’t hang around smokers all day. Today I was witnessing to someone on how to stop smoking drugs).

• • Some habits may require you to change what movies, television shows you watch what music you hear.

4.    Schedule a today to jumpstart your new YOU. Start this day by spending a few moments at this altar and at the offering baskets seeing yourself free from the habit.

• • Make a loyal commitment to God stating your new intentions;
  • During this time you must make the decision to change.

5.    Create a positive habit to replace the negative habit.

6.    Remember to come back to this preaching and begin again. You’ll have to jumpstart yourself again with a time of re-listening and affirmation to help reset your programming.

Can you believe that in only three more months this year will be gone? It seems as if we say the same thing every ending of a year. “Man.. I can’t beleive how fast this year has gone!” Lol (It’s true, we all say that!)

When we are approaching the finish line of a year, there is that tendency to want to cruise downhill to the finish line.

TEXT: LUKE 23:13-15

13Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.

• In this text we find Jesus in the middle of what would be probably the hardest task of his life here on earth to complete. (To die by way of execution)

• From this passage of scripture I would like to take the principles that Jesus modeled to us in “FINISHING WELL”.

HERE IS WHAT I KNOW IN REGARDS TO FINISHING WELL:

1. God wants us to finish WELL.

2. We want to finish WELL.

3. Many don’t finish WELL.

4. The ones that don’t finish well predominantly lose it in the MIDDLE game, not in the END game.

Do any of you remember the World Series 2009 Yankees Vs. Phillies? Here is what the game scoring looked like.

Gm 1            PHI 6 @ NYY 1            Wed

Gm 2            PHI 1 @ NYY 3            Thu

Gm 3            NYY 8 @ PHI 5            Sat

Gm 4            NYY 7 @ PHI 4            Sun

Gm 5            NYY 6 @ PHI 8            Mon

Gm 6            PHI 3 @ NYY 7            Wed

The observation in this World Series Illustration is that in the beginning it looked as if the Philies were going to spank the Yankees throughout the rest of the series. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Or in the words of “Reverend Sam Sanchez” “It’s not you drive, it’s how you arrive” (golfers understand this one – Lol)

Biblical Types of finishes in leadership

1) CUT OFF EARLY

-       These leaders were taken out of leadership by assassination, killed in battle, prophetically denounced, or overthrown. Some of this activity was directly attributed to God. Some of these were positive and others were negative!

“Samson, Ahab, Josiah, Absalom, John the Baptist, James…”

2) FINISHED POORLY

-       These leaders were going down hill in the latter part of their ministry. This might have reflected in their personal relationship with God or in terms of their competency in ministry.

“Gideon, Eli, Solomon, Saul”

3) FINISHED SO-SO

-       These leaders did fairly well but were limited in their ministries because of sin. They did not complete what God had for them, or had some negative ramifications surrounding their lives and ministries even though they personally were walking with God.

“Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat, David”

4) FINISHED WELL

-       Theses leaders were walking with God at the end of their lives. They contributed to God’s purposes at a high level. They fulfilled what God had for them to do.

“Abraham, Job, Joseph, Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, John, Paul, Peter, Jesus”.

CLOSE:

Next blog, I will talk about “On Jesus finishing well”. Stay posted!

INTRODUCTION:

• We are in the people business as leaders of HIS church.

• The day we get tired of people is the day we LOST our vision.

• No doubt Jesus could have given in to the temptation to doubt people’s motives. Yet, He maintained an upbeat attitude toward every person He met.

• Jesus looked at people’s potential because He knew they were all made in the image of His heavenly Father.

• Jesus’ love helped Him look for the best quality in people, regardless of their background.

• Today’s lesson will help us discover how Jesus’ mindset will improve your relationships by choosing to look for the good in every person, every cause and every church.

1. Jesus knew how to focus on people’s strengths rather than their weaknesses.

• Jesus was a master at human psychology.

• He knew that people are much more open to someone who sees their assets than their deficiencies.
• When Jesus first saw Nathanael approaching He said about him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” (John 1:47)

2. Jesus saw in people what they could become instead of what they were not.

• Jesus said to the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”(John 4:10)

• The Lord wanted everyone to reach maximum potential.

• He longed for people to be filled with the fullness of His joy.

3) Jesus presumed that every person wanted real answers to their questions.

• After the disciples participated in the feeding of the 5,000 they asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:28,29)

• The Lord knew that the disciples really wanted a straight answer that could guide them in their planning, attitudes and actions.

4) Jesus refused to harbor any grudges.

• The Lord taught that people are poisoned by their own resentments, biases and hostilities. For this reason when Peter asked Jesus, “How many times should I forgive my brother – up to seven times?” Jesus said, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.” (In other words so many times one cannot even remember) (Matt. 18:21,22)

• We as leaders need to ask the Lord for a supernatural help to forgive family, people in this church, close friends, or even those you are working with.

• Unless we give our grievances over to the Lord they can act as a wedge between people and do considerable damage.

5) Jesus knew that some people will continue to harbor grudges against us, but we must still try to be reconciled with them.

• Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you…. If he will not listen, take one or two others along… if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as a you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (Matt 18:15-17)

• As long as we are willing to fulfill our responsibility of initiating reconciliation with an offender or an offended friend, we are exonerated from all faults.

6) Jesus gave generous compliments to people as a way of building up their self-esteem.

• Jesus said, “Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” (Matt. 11:11)

• Jesus wanted everyone to admire John the Baptist for his faith, courage and commitment to preparing a way for His ministry.

• By publicly expressing commendation, affirmation and approval for others we are following in the steps of Jesus.

7) Jesus stood up for the disciples when they were being wrongly accused.

• One day the Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath. (picking some heads of grain and eating them) Jesus said, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread – which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests….I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matt. 12:1-8)

• The Lord had a firm but kind way of asserting His rights and the privileges bestowed on those who were His co-workers in the ministry.

8. Jesus’ great sermon on the mount began with the words, “Blessed are you”.

• In Luke 6:17-20 “He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil[a] spirits were cured, 19and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who…”

• The Lord knew that everyone has a hunger for supernatural blessings, benefits and empowerments.

• Everyone in the crowd must have strained to hear every word Jesus spoke that day.

• You will always win more people with goodness than with condemnation.

• Put away any tendency you might have towards relying on the negatives and presume the best that each person can be in the Lord.

• Ask God for the ability to presume the best in every situation, cause and circumstance. He will direct your path and teach you to see things that are invisible to most people.

• LEARN TO BLESS YOUR FOLLOWERS!

Last year, I came across an excellent book that I feel can help any pastor/leader grow their church/ministry. I’m telling you! If you can be hungry enough to go out of your way and get a copy of this book in your hand, you are guaranteed for church growth and personal growth. – Go get it!

This book is based on interviews with pastors of growing churches (they started small). they all identify the most common mistakes pastors make that keep them from growing.

THE TEN MISTAKES ARE…

1. TRYING TO DO IT ALL

2. ESTABLISHING THE WRONG ROLE FOR THE PASTOR’S FAMILY

3. PROVIDING A SECOND-RATE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE

4. SETTLING FOR LOW QUALITY IN CHILDREN’S MINISTRY

5. PROMOTING TALENT OVER INTEGRITY

6. CLINGING TO A BAD LOCATION

7. COPYING ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL CHURCH

8. FAVORING DISCIPLINE OVER RECONCILIATION

9. MIXING MINISTRY AND BUSINESS

10. LETTING COMMITTEES STEER THE SHIP

Title: Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing, Author: Geoff Surratt, Publishing by; Zondervan