Sunday Night Rejoicings

I love my church. I know I've said that before, but it bears saying again: I love my church.

I'll just make a few quick reflections on a great day in the Lord, with the Lord's people.

Con Brio did a great job leading worship this morning. And Gary Antonius, our director of outreach, gave a great, Spirit-led challenge to the whole church to focus on the one thing that matters (according to Galatians 5:6) in advance of our G56 day next Sunday, when we will gather at 10 am for worship and then spread out into the community to apply his teaching. Can't wait!

I praise God for the four newcomers to Cobblestone I was blessed to meet this morning, and for the holiday weekend attendance. Though a lot of our family were traveling or fishing (you know who you are!) or vacationing, I still had trouble finding three seats together for some folks who stepped in after the celebration began.

"The Third" tonight was a blessing, too. Aaron and Sean lead worship, just the two of them, and it was one of my favorite worship sets ever. Not that I don't miss Chaz, Jeremy, and Kyle when they're not there...I'm just saying...

I LOVED people's enthusiasm this morning as they talked about our outreach plans next Sunday.

I LOVED the well-attended journey group leaders' meeting hosted by Kay Johnson this morning in the library. Thanks, Kay, and thanks to all who attended.

I LOVED Treena's report of complete healing in her eye, and the display she had in the atrium for next Saturday's coupon swap program in Women's Connection.

I LOVE singing Con Brio's arrangement of a prayer by St. Augustine in the song, "Alive Again."

I LOVED one of our members telling me how overwhelmed he and his wife are by the church....being the church! I love to hear reports like that.

I LOVE knowing that our Peru mission team are safe in Arequipa, and worshiping this morning in the city church and tonight in the pueblo church. I would love to be there. The Spirit works there!

Call It Out

The following blog post by Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church, really spoke to me this past week. I've read it and reread it...and now share it with you:

Leaders: Don’t apologize for expecting excellence. God deserves it, and people are capable of it. Call it out.

The impetus for it came from my observation that some leaders are afraid or embarrassed to expect excellence as a normal product from the people they lead. Usually it’s because they don’t want to appear to be demanding or demeaning. Apparently it’s an affront to expect a lot out of a person.

But it’s actually just the opposite. It honors them.

The highest compliment you can give to those you lead is to demand the best from them. Low standards do not communicate appreciation. They communicate contempt for someone’s ability and potential. Once you have stopped challenging someone to do more, you have stopped believing in them. And you have effectively stunted their ability to grow in their God-given gifts and calling.

It’s the responsibility of the leader not only to cast vision, but also to make sure that those serving under the vision are maximizing their gifts in support of it. An indispensable tool that every leader must learn to develop then is the ability to speak life into potential. Call it out. And the best way to call it out is by maintaining a high standard. People don’t grow by being allowed to live in mediocrity.

So leaders: Don’t apologize for expecting excellence. God deserves it, and people are capable of it. Call it out.

You’re not being demeaning by holding your people to a high standard. The real affront would be to allow someone to work at a level that doesn’t correspond to the potential for greatness that God has put in them.

Top Ten Last Words

I shared several of these (not the whole list) in the intro to my message this past Sunday, "The Last Words," on Revelation 22, the final installment in our awesome "How to Survive the End of the World" series at Cobblestone. So, here are those last words, plus a few more to make the Top Ten Last Words:

10. Lady Astor, the first female member of the British parliament, on her deathbed awoke and saw herself surrounded by family members. Her last words: “Am I dying. . . Or is this my birthday?”

9. Ethan Allen--the American patriot, not the furniture store--was told by his doctor, “General, I am afraid the angels are waiting for you,” to which Allen replied, “Waiting are they? Waiting are they? Well, LET ‘EM wait!”

8. The dying words of Pancho Villa, the famous Mexican bandit, were, “Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something.”

7. Julius Caesar: "Et tu, Brute?"

6. Caesar Augustus: "I found Rome brick, I left it marble."

5. The emperor Caligula: "I am still alive."

4. Believe it or not, the last words of Leonardo da Vinci--creator of the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, among many other works of art and science--were, "I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have."

3. Writer and scalawag Oscar Wilde: "Either that wallpaper goes, or I do."

2. General John Sedgwick, a Union commander at the battle Spotsylvania, uttered the famous last words, “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dista--”

And the number one famous last words:

1. Jesus, who told his servant John, "Yes, I am coming soon" (Revelation 22:20, NIV).

A Wonderful, Dangerous Book

I read a lot of books. Sixty, seventy a year. And I review more than a few on this blog, and elsewhere. And, while I love books, not every book is a great book. Not every book is even a good book. I seldom review bad books, and I try not to gush over a good book.

But this one's gonna be hard. Because The Blessed Life by Robert Morris is a wonderful, dangerous book.

I didn't approach it with a lot of optimism. I was wary. His subtitle ("The Simple Secret of Achieving Guaranteed Financial Results") turned me off...way off. But from the book's first pages, his testimonies of radical faith and giving gripped me, and his thoroughly biblical approach persuaded me. He showed me new things in the Bible. He inspired me. More than anything, he made me want to give more than I already do!

I highlighted so much of this book, I started to worry that there were so many points I wanted to remember, I'd never be able to find a specific one amid all the good points he made. But here are just a few, hopefully enough to convince you to buy or borrow and read this book:

God doesn't need you to give--you need to be blessed.

One of the biggest rewards of obeying God and getting out of debt is the freedom to do the right thing when God speaks to you about it. If God really has done a work in our hearts, why would we be trying to figure out how to diminish the amount of our tithe?

The only people who get offended when you preach on giving are the ones who don't give--those who are in the grasp of the spirit of mammon. The people who have a revelation of giving will not get offended when you preach on it, and those in bondage to mammon can never taste freedom unless they hear the truth.

God is not responsible for bills he does not initiate.

Wherever you find generosity, you will find selfishness battling for control.

God is never going to give you responsibility in the kingdom of God or even the house of God if you can't even handle your checkbook.

Giving is important because it does a supernatural work in our hearts, and that's what God is after--our hearts. God is not after our money. He doesn't need it. But our treasure is tied to our hearts. Thus, God goes through our treasure to get to our hearts.

There's much more in there, but believe me when I say, this is a wonderful book. But it is also dangerous. It will change your heart...and your life...until the windows of heaven are opened and the blessings God's been waiting to bestow will be poured out upon you.

Can I Get a Witness?

Let's file this one under "Christian witnessing techniques you may want to re-think":

No Church Has a Secure and Permanent Place

Jesus Christ warns them that if they disobey his commands, and do not repent, their church’s existence will be ignominiously terminated. ‘I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent’ (Revelation 2:5). No church has a secure and permanent place in the world. It is continuously on trial. . . . Many churches all over the world today have ceased truly to exist. Their buildings remain intact, their ministers minister and their congregations congregate, but their lampstand has been removed (John R. W. Stott, What Christ Thinks of the Church (Grand Rapids, 1958), page 33).