Prayer Pt.2

Father, sometimes I am drained of strength. Thank You for providing opportunities for me to be recharged by reading your word, praying and spending time with other Christians. Help me discover the reason that I have become spiritually exhausted. Renew my strength and fill me with your abundant power! Thank You Jesus Christ for lifting me up when I felt useless and tired. I Love You AMEN! Verse for today Psalm31:24 "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, and ye that hope in the Lord."

MY PRAYER pt1!!!

The first posts of a 5 day series named “Prayer is Powerful” Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says 6-These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.7- Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.8- Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.9- Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. My Prayer- Father, I know that you call upon me to teach and raise my children in your truth and light. It is easy for me to tell my children what to do if I think I do not have to do it myself. Father, help me be like Jesus, who illustrated in His powerful sermons with examples of love, compassion, truth, and humility. I want my children to receive good training by examples of my actions. May I demonstrate Your Love in my everyday routine. Lord write Your commandments on my life so they will be a living lesson to my children in your name (JESUS) I ask all things AMEN!

Critics?

This is one of the best posts ever about dealing with your critics! This is my Pastor Perry Noble dang I Love this Guy!
Dealing With Critics - Five Questions That I Ask
I have been a part of several pastors Q & A sessions in the past year–leading some and participating in others–and in EVERY session that I attended the question, “How do you deal with criticism” surfaced.
I will have to admit that I am NOT an expert in this area…I am still learning; however, I believe in order for a pastor (or church leader) to finish well he has to learn how to deal with this issue. Jesus dealt with it, so did the Apostle Paul…we all will. One of the number one factors in pastors leaving the ministry is discouragement…and so here are several questions that I ask when criticism flies my way…
#1 - How Well Does This Person Know Me?
One of the things that we have to learn as pastors is just because someone has a blog or knows how to type an e-mail…that does not make them an expert. (Yes, I put myself in this category.)
I cannot tell you the number of blog posts I have read and e-mails that I have received from people calling me prideful, a heretic, saying that I am going to hell…and those are the nice ones!!!
Pastors, you’ve got to understand WHO is doing the criticizing. People will often act before they think (I do) and make snap judgments on your character based on one line you wrote on your blog or something you said in a sermon in which they did not listen to the entire context.
And…to be honest, those are the people I do not listen to. I can’t! I don’t have time.
BUT…I do listen to those closest to me. I have created an open atmosphere among the leaders here at NewSpring…and behind closed doors I have been both encouraged and rebuked. You’ve got to have people around you who are willing to tell you the truth or this does not work.
AND…I listen to the people in our church, who are neck deep in ministry with us…their opinion matters! But those who don’t know me–I don’t have time to try to convince them I’m a good person…and if I try then they call me arrogant and say I should be more humble. :-)
#2 - What Attitude Does The Person Criticizing Have?
Bottom line, if someone comes at me with a negative, condemning attitude…I write it off. The Bible says that we are called to speak the truth…but we are called to do so in love.
#3 - Does What The Person Is Saying Pass Through The Filter Of Scripture?
DANG…I heard Erwin McManus say this once…and it has impacted me ever since. When someone comes at me with, “I think this,” and, “I think that,” but cannot back up their argument with Scripture…I write them off.
Let me say this–Scripture IN CONTEXT, I have discovered that there are some people out there who can make the Bible say anything they want it to say by misquoting God’s Word.
But Scripture in context…I will listen to that. For example, a few weeks ago a friend and I had some differences and I did not speak to this person for several days. Things were tense because we work around one another. She confronted me on this and said, “The Bible says in Ephesians 4:26 that we are not supposed to let the sun go down on us while we are angry…I would say you have done that.”
I was busted–she was right…she confronted me with a non-judgmental attitude and used Scripture in context…and I repented because I was wrong.
#4 - Is This Criticism Personal Or Shared By Others?
Pastors…here is the truth. We can receive hundreds of e-mails telling us how wonderful the sermon was…and one telling us that we are horrible preachers…and we will ignore the one hundred and focus on the one that was negative!
We all do it–I am the world’s worse!!!
OR–we will fall for the line, “I’ve been talking to a lot of people…and everyone is saying…” And then they will unload their personal agenda on us and say that everyone is saying the exact same thing. Which in most cases is not true. In fact, what I have discovered is that a person who usually says things like this don’t really have a lot of people who will talk to them anyway. Seriously!
And…if it is always the same person saying that “everyone is saying,” but they are the only person who is saying anything…then ask them who “everyone” is–this will usually shut them up!
#5 - Is This Worth My Time?
I used to try and fight every single ounce of criticism that came my way…and I just can’t do it anymore, and neither can you.
Now, there are some things that are worth my time…and I do address issues on the blog from time to time that I feel are necessary.
BUT…what I have discovered is that the majority of the criticism I get simply isn’t worth my time. I am NOT going to change the person’s mind…and “friendly debate” is out of the question…so I just move on.
I am JUST getting to where I can do this. I used to search & see what other bloggers were saying about me…but I don’t do that anymore–and neither should you! It robs your joy!!!
I don’t know if this helps you–but it has helped me. Pastors, we will always experience hurt in ministry. But, if I may use a sports analogy, the players that we most admire are the ones that play hurt and still make things happen. This rung true with me at C3 this past year when Craig Groeschel said that pastors play hurt every week.
Craig plays hurt
Ed Young plays hurt
Mark Driscoll plays hurt
Rob Bell plays hurt
Erwin McManus plays hurt
Rick Warren plays hurt
We all play hurt…but that is a part of finishing well…knowing that it will all work out in the end.
God bless…
About this entry
You’re currently reading “Dealing With Critics - Five Questions That I Ask,” an entry on Perry Noble dot com
Published:
04.11.07 / 8am
Category:
Finishing Well

Driscoll's awesome post SILENCE!

Silence
Mark Driscoll
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven... a time to be silent and a time to speak...Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7b
It was a very normal day until I realized that I was actively destroying my own soul.
The day began with my alarm jolting me awake. I immediately turned on my BlackBerry to hear it chime for each voicemail and email that had been left while I slept. I stepped into the shower where I listened to my waterproof radio. I then turned on the television to catch some news while I dressed. Driving to work I tuned in to some talk-radio banter.
Throughout the day the chime on my laptop kept ringing as email arrived, and my cell phone continued to vibrate and ring on my hip. Before long, I needed a break, and I put on my iPod to go for a walk.
On the drive home, I again listened to the radio in an effort to drown out the blaring horns of frustrated fellow commuters. After eating dinner and tucking my five children into bed, I turned on the television to watch shows I had recorded on my Tivo.
As I drifted off to sleep, it dawned on me that I had not had one minute of silence during my entire day. It was possible, I realized, that I could live the rest of my life without ever again experiencing silence.
In that moment, God deeply convicted me that I was addicted to the false trinity of our day, the gods known as Noise, Hurry, and Crowds. I remembered the words of missionary martyr Jim Elliot, who said, “I think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: noise, hurry, crowds . . . Satan is quite aware of the power of silence.”
I began to ponder what Jesus’ life might be like if He lived today. Would He be available to all of His followers twenty-four hours a day on His BlackBerry? Would He have left His phone on at the Last Supper and been continually interrupted by needless calls? Would He have failed to stop and speak to needy people because their weeping was not loud enough for Him to hear over His iPod as He hurried past them on His way to a meeting He was already late for?
In that moment I prayed, asking God for His wisdom and help to save me from myself. God answered my prayer and reminded me that Jesus often took periods of prayerful silence to hear from the Father and to ensure not that He was doing everything He could, but that He was doing only what was most important. For example, before beginning His public ministry, Jesus spent forty days fasting from food, people, and noise in an effort to prepare Himself to fully accomplish what God the Father had given Him to do on the earth.
Moreover, the Bible says in Luke 5:16 that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places.” Jesus spent considerable time alone in silence to pray, rest, and focus on what priorities He should be devoting His time and energy to. This helps to explain why, in just three short years of ministry, Jesus had a greater impact on history than anyone else who has ever lived.
The Bible also describes multiple benefits of purposeful silence, including:
hearing from God (1 Kings 19:11–13)
waiting patiently for the Lord to act (Lamentations 3:25–28)
worshiping God (Habakkuk 2:20)
knowing God better (Psalm 46:10)
praying effectively (Luke 5:16)
Since God convicted me of my addiction to noise, I have sought to conform my life more to the pattern of Jesus’, which has proven quite helpful. I try to spend at least five minutes an hour in silence, at least thirty minutes in uninterrupted silence each day, and a full day in silence once a month. During those times I find myself going for silent prayer walks to listen to God, writing in my journal, and sometimes doing nothing at all, which for me has become an act of faith that God is at work even when I am not.
My prayer is that those reading this who, like me, are guilty of noise addiction can also experience the regular gift of silence because that is often where God is waiting for us. There was silence before God spoke the world into existence, and silence for forty days before Jesus began His public ministry, which may indicate that silence is what allows us to speak as God intends.
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Solitude Part 2
Mark Driscoll

Andy's 5 things!

Check this out Andy is on it DANG!
Five Things Andy Stanley is Thinking About
Andy Stanley closed the last session of Catalyst talking about stuff that is on his mind...
1) To reach people no one else is reaching, we have to do things no one else is doing (Craig Groeschel) - we have 175,000 people within 10 miles of Northpoint, and we aren't reaching them. We aren't going to reach them by building another church building. We have to do something no one else is doing.
Become preoccupied with those you want to reach rather than those you are trying to keep.
2) The best idea for reaching the next generation isn't going to come from the existing generation, it's going to come from the next generation.
If you are over 45 years old, you aren't going to have any good ideas. It's your job to recognize the good ideas.
Don't do to the next generation what the previous generation did to you.
Be a student, not a critic.
3) I'm looking for what can't be done in church, but if it could be done would fundamentally change the church.
It always used to drive me nuts that the communicator and the leader had to be the same thing.
Multi-site solved this. Now the great leader doesn't have to be the teacher.
Like that, you may be the one to crack the code on something no one else has figured out that will fundamentally change our "business."
Pay attention to people who are breaking the rules. It's the rule-breakers who are oftentimes the problem solvers.
4) If we got kicked out by our board, and they hired a new guy, what would the new guy change or do different? Let's walk out the door and walk back in, and make those changes.
The problem with ministry is that we've fallen in love with the way we've done ministry.
It's not "no pain, no gain" -- it's "no pain, no change." Without pain, there typically isn't any change.
Ask: "Where are we manufacturing energy?" The things we aren't very excited about, it takes energy to get it done, but the results aren't stellar.
Acknowledge what's not working. Own up to it. And own up to why you aren't willing to do anything about it. What is it you fear? You need to deal with that. It is a leadership lid for you.
5) When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near. You look back with smiles and lots to celebrate, but you don't have a lot to work forward to.
Are you willing to be involved in the future more than the present?
Don't let success overshadow your vision.
Success breeds complacency and complacency breeds failure.

Its already yours! (By Steven Furtick)

CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME POST BY PASTOR STEVEN FURTICK OF ELEVATION CHURCH IN CHARLOTTE, N.C.
It’s already yoursDecember 22nd, 2008
I get so frustrated with the older brother in the story of the prodigal son.Here he is, pitching a temper tantrum because of something his father never gave him (a goat, for crying out loud).
We can learn a valuable lesson at the expense his ignorance:Your Father can’t give you what’s already yours!
This brother had access to as many fat cows as his little heart desired.They were his for the taking. So what was he waiting for?
Many times we pray for God to give us things that we already possess.We ask God to give us joy. Joy doesn’t come from out-there-somewhere.It’s a fruit of the Spirit…and it’s already ours….waiting to be activated.
I’ve begged God before to give me peace about certain situations. When He doesn’t rain down peace, I become irritated and impatient.But He’s already given me peace through Jesus…a peace that passes understanding.He’s waiting for me to walk in what He’s already provided.
Don’t wait for God to give you victory when He’s already won the battle.Don’t wait for God to give you hope when He’s already poured out His hope in abundance into your heart through the Holy Spirit.
Stop waiting for God to give you what’s already yours.

Merry Christmas!

What’s up to all my peeps! I’m sitting here about to have my first family Christmas party of the year! Excited because of the homemade cheesecake I will be consuming here in just a few! You know I want to wish all of you who read this blog daily a Merry CHRIST-mas! I hope the Lord blesses you very much! Me and Tommy did ministry today and reached over 80 people for Christ it was a huge day! Thanks to Jane and Tommy for putting the cards together and to all of you who prayed for us today we love you! The number one asked question around this time of year is “Are you getting something for Christmas?” Most people answer with the sentence I HOPE so! You know I get the same response when I ask people if they are going to Heaven! Did you know you don’t have to HOPE so you can know so! Jesus went to the cross to set you free from sin so you would no longer have to live in bondage but in FREEDOM! If you would like to know that if you were to die tomorrow you would go to Heaven Just say this prayer to God and mean it! Dear Lord Jesus I know I’m a sinner and I need your forgiveness. I believe you died on the cross for my sin and rose again. Come into my life take complete control. I give it all to you thank you Jesus for saving me AMEN! If you prayed this prayer you made the best decision you have ever made and we at Mission Ministries would like to help you take your next step and give you a free bible just email me at Jason.ashley@charter.net and let me know your address and I will personally mail you a bible and information on your next steps!