Possessing Your Future...

Two years ago, my wife and I visited Israel. There were so many souvenir options, but I was looking for that special one. I decided on this olive wood carving of Joshua and Caleb bringing fruit back in when they were spies and went to spy out the Promise Land. Joshua is one of those leaders in the Bible who we all can draw inspiration from when it comes to stepping into and possessing our future.

Joshua and the children of Israel were on the verge of crossing into the Promise Land. The previous 40 years were filled with wandering in the wilderness, but it was time for Joshua to possess his future. In chapter one in the Book of Joshua, God said, “Joshua, you got a tremendous future ahead. God is going to do great things in your life. But there are going to be challenges, battles, but I [God] will be with you. Be encouraged, be strong, be bold.” These were God’s promises to Joshua that His future would be secure because God promised it. Yet it was up to him to step into it and possess it.

What does 2010 and beyond hold for you? The answer is a mixture of blessings and battles. God says to you, “I have great things I want to do in your life. I have thoughts you haven’t even thought of. How I want to bless your life!” God says the best days of life are ahead of you. There are going to be challenges, and there are going to be battles, but God promises to be on your side when it comes to your future.

In order to take hold of and possess your future, let’s do what Joshua did. Joshua’s strategy came directly from God. God knows each of us will encounter battles when stepping into and possessing our God-promised future. So He wants to empower us and encourage us. Like Joshua, God says to you and I if you do this it will make an impact on your life and bring you “success.” The strategy from God is simple yet profound.

Here it is:

* SET UP A PLAN
* STAY IN HIS WORD
* STEP OUT IN FAITH

You can find out more about this God strategy in the Bible in the book of Joshua. Take a moment to read it.

As your pastor, I pray you and your family have a God-blessed 2010.

God & Me...

What would you like to change in your life? I have discovered everyone of us desires to change. As I was growing up, I heard people say, "Jesus changed my life." How does Jesus change your life? Does He do surgery or brainwash you? Does He zap you with something and all of a sudden you're changed? There's a lot of confusing advice coming out nowadays on how God changes us. Some people say, "Just wait on the Lord," which is a passive approach. Other people say, "If it's to be, it's up to me," which is an activist viewpoint. What am I supposed to do in order to grow? Is it all me, or is it all God, or is it a combination?

The Bible gives us a clear answer regarding this issue of spiritual growth. When it comes to our spiritual growth, the fact is that God has a part and you have a part. Paul uses two phrases to explain this cooperation:

"Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." Notice "work out" and "work in". Work out is your part. Work in is God's part. We are to work out what God is working in.

This doesn't say "work for" your salvation. It says "work out." He is saying you need to develop what you already have. Work out the implications. If you're born again, start growing. Work it out. What do you do in a physical workout? You do a workout not to get a body but to develop the body you already have. When you work out a puzzle, you already have all the pieces. You've just got to put it together.

Our part is that we work out the implications. Here is God’s part: God is the energizer for change in your life. He says, "I will give you the power to do what you want to do, need to do, and know what is right to do. I will empower you, energize you." God is the energizer to will and to act. He will give you the will power and the ability. He'll give you the desire and the capability to change.

You are a part of His family. Take your salvation seriously; it has eternal implications. Nothing is more important than your own spiritual growth. Take it seriously.

Time is Flying

Can you believe 2009 is almost over? Is it me or are our calendars speeding up? The Bible says life is “like a vapor… a blink,” and with the days flying by, I can see the truth in this passage.

The point is, whatever we are going to do with our lives, we’d better get on it because time is running out. The other point is, if we are not doing something with our lives, it really doesn’t matter how many days we’ve got left anyway.

So how can we finish 2009 well and be ready for 2010? How can the year ahead be different than the year we are leaving? How many of us find ourselves saying, “I would like 2010 to be better than 2009? Last year was a year of challenges, a year of choices, a year of changes, a year of some crises. The fact is ’09 has been a year of disappointments or underachieved expectations. It’s been a year of loss -- maybe it was the loss of a loved one. And maybe for some, it was a year of failure.

The good news… You CAN finish 2009 well and be ready for 2010! How can 2010 be better? Take the rest of 2009 and ask yourself some questions and have a plan of action ready for 2010.

Here are the questions to ask yourself in 2009 to help you establish a personal development plan:

1. What do I want to learn in 2010? (Intellectual Goal) Proverbs 19:8
2. What will improve my health? (Physical Goal) Proverbs 17:22
3. What will deepen my relationship with God? (Spiritual Goal) 2 Peter 3:18
4. What will be my ministry to others? (Social Goal) 1 Peter 4:10

Take these few days remaining in 2009 and answer those questions. I have included Bible passages that communicate the importance of each of those questions to the full development of our life.

Now, as we enter 2010, IF it is going to be different:

1. I need to assume responsibility for my life. [Galatians 6:5]
2. I need to believe I can change. [Philippians 4:13]
3. I need to clarify what is important. [1 Corinthians 10:23]
4. I need to begin immediately. [Ecclesiastes 11:4]

We’ve just got to have a plan if it is going to be better.

CELEBRATE...

All month, churches and communities all over the globe are focused on one event – Christmas. It only makes sense. Two thousand years later, Christmas can still create traffic jams, long lines, crowded stores, and packed out churches. It is the most significant event in the history of mankind.

Think about it, Christmas should be the greatest celebration, the greatest party we have all year. All of us attend tons of parties during this holiday season. Sometimes we have said, “Not another party.” In fact, with the majority of our parties, the most important one we honor is not even talked about. You see, Christmas is a birthday party for Jesus. It’s the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Did you know that God wants us to celebrate Jesus? Despite the busyness and chaos that often characterizes our Christmas season, God wants it be a time of celebration centered around His son.

What news did the angel say to shepherds? I bring you good news of great joy, and it’s for everybody. What is that great news?

1st – God loves you – His love for us is based on His character, not our performance.
2nd – God is with you – Emmanuel means God is with us. You may have been abandoned in the past, but not anymore.
3rd – God is for you – God’s on our side; He wants us to win.

We need to celebrate this Christmas. Jesus’ birth was – and is – good news of great joy for everybody.

Why Me?

Do you ever find yourself asking, “Why me?” When things seem to be going wrong, you ask, “Why me?” When things are going to good for others, you ask, “Why them?”

Try this one: The God of the entire universe descends and is born as a baby to live among the people He created. When you contemplate the fact that God had a whole world of women to choose from, you have to wonder why He would choose a poor, peasant, Jewish girl named Mary. Why Mary? Why did God choose to use this girl? If we can discover why God chose Mary, maybe God can use us in ways we never thought possible.

God was the sovereign initiator in this choosing. The Bible says in Luke that “Mary found favor with God.” When looking at the life profile of Mary beyond the basic information of being a poor, single teenager, we go on to read that she was humble, willing, and excited when it came to God. She realized she needed God in her life. She made a statement, “I am willing to do whatever He wants me to do.” She was passionate about her life bringing praise to God.

Think about the fears that become hurdles to us. Those are the same fears Mary had to confront. The fear of change: God is about to alter life for Mary. The fear of criticism: What will my family, friends and community say? The fear of the supernatural: Why would God want to connect with me? The fear of inadequacy: I am not qualified.

Today we have found favor with God. He loved us so much that He ambushed us with love through His only son Jesus Christ. Will you humble yourself and let God lead your life? Will you be willing to say with passion, “I will serve and do whatever He wants me to do”? Will your life exhibit enthusiasm of praise for your God?

Of all the thousands of people in the world, why you? Your life is more than a space and time filler; it is a life with divine design.

The Big Four

Happy Thanksgiving! This week, our entire nation is celebrating Thanksgiving. The irony of it is with so much cooking, traveling, entertaining, football, and shopping the biggest sales of the year, very little thanks will get done. For the most part, just a single prayer gets said on Thanksgiving day – possibly before the meal, and usually by one person. We miss that the whole point of the holiday season is to give thanks to God for what He’s done in our lives.

So I just want to share with you a way I think we can make this thanksgiving season different and carry it right into Christmas the season and into every day in 2010. It begins with realizing that everything you own and everything you are comes from God. Without God there would be nothing in your life. In the Old Testament,1 Chronicles 29 reads, “Everything has come from You [God] and everything belongs to You [God].”

If we did not have God in our lives, if God had not created us, we would have nothing. So it all starts with God. When we start to think, “What we can be thankful for?” we really have to thank God for everything. If you are a Christ follower, you have reason to thank God for what I call the “BIG FOUR.” If we get these down, our priorities will be healthy.

1. I AM THANKFUL TO GOD FOR THE GRACE HE HAS SHOWN ME.

2. I AM THANKFUL TO GOD FOR THE PLAN HE HAS FOR ME.

3. I AM THANKFUL TO GOD FOR THE ETERNAL LIFE HE HAS GIVEN ME.

4. I AM THANKFUL TO GOD FOR THE CHANGES HE’S MAKING IN ME.

More than just saying thanks, let’s live thanks! How? By singing, by serving, by giving, and by sharing. I hope your thanksgiving week is filled with lifelong memories and that, for you, thanksgiving is lived out every day of the year.

Don't Forget Joy...

Have you ever realized you don’t really enjoy your life, but you just seem to endure it? You think that if life is not perfect, it is hard to be happy. If you could just change your situation… get rid of your problems, then life would be free. If we are looking to be happy in life, we must learn to be joyful in the situations, problems, and in the experiences of life.

You see, happiness often centers around circumstances. In fact, the word “happiness” comes from the word “happenstance” from which we get another word, “circumstance.” We have a happy time at Disney World, Sea World, or a sporting event (especially if your team wins). You leave the place or event and, eventually, you lose your happiness. Yet joy is constant. So how do you have happiness in spite of what is going on in life?

In Galatians 5:22 Paul writes that “joy” is who we are because we are Christ followers and His Spirit lives in us. Knowing that God is the overseer of our lives, we are joyful because of who God is and who we are. We reveal that “joy” through thankfulness, thanksgiving, and through our attitude of gratitude. Paul goes on to write that in spite of all situations, “I rejoice and I will continue to rejoice.” (Philippians 1:18). What was Paul’s secret to being content when situations and circumstances were at times good and at times not so good?

SECRETS TO JOYFUL LIVING…

• A healthy perspective makes a difference.
  ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him.
• Always distinguish the trivial from the significant.
  Focus on what really counts.
• Tap into your fresh power supply when life drains you.
  With God's power nothing can devastate me.
• Never forget the purpose you live for.
  The secret of joy -- Jesus first, Others second, Yourself third.

You're not here by accident or to simply take up space. When you discover your purpose and get right in the center of it, it fits! And then you will feel fulfilled and realize that is why you're here! It’s not about religion; it’s about relationship. Paul did not say, "For me to live it’s about religion or church or Bible study or ministry.” No, he said, “The only thing worth living for is a relationship with the one who made me.”