This message has huge implications for our nation, as well as for those that call themselves Disciples of Jesus Christ.  I would like your feedback! After you click on the above link, go to the third video down on the right hand side of the web-page. Click!

Pastor Jason

Yo Momma!

7.  Pray For Guidance.

Last night @ EpicChurchLasVegas we held our monthly prayer gathering we call “The Furnace.”  Always a powerful time of worship & prayer. I was especially moved by the prayers of students & children.  I love hearing and seeing the faith of the younger generation activated.

Let me give you some quick quotes, and thoughts on prayer.  Don’t pray?  Why not? Prayer…… is dependence on God.  No prayer…… independence from God. The latter is frightening!

“The soil in which the prayer of faith takes root is a life of unbroken communion with God, a life in which the windows of the soul are always open towards the City of Rest.” David Martin Mac’ Intyre

“The ones who have most fully illustrated Christ in their character, and have most powerfully affected the world for Him, have been those who spend so much time with God as to make it a notable feature in their lives.” E.M. Bounds

If we are going to pray for guidance in our lives, we must first be given an understanding of prayer.  Let me use the bible as my template to help us.

First:  Prayer is a dialogue based upon our knowledge of God.

A great illustration from the bible is Moses and God.  Moses had been called by God to lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt.  It was not easy, and would require divine intervention at so many levels.  Here’s a little glimpse:

12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” 14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Ex 33:12-14

Moses’ dialogue reveals what he knows of God, and what God wants, and his desire to know more of God.
I love this phrase, “You have been telling me, lead these people” V.12

Moses is clearly in a dialogue with God, and Moses knows enough about God to know that he can ask God for what he wants and needs.

Moses wants to know if he’s doing this alone, (knows he isn’t, but wants reassurance.)
Who are you sending with me? V.12

God responds with the ultimate answer: I will go with you.
”My presence will go with you.” V.14

Quick Thought:  We pray according to what we know and believe about God.

What do your prayers reveal about what you know and believe about God? (You pray as big as your God is.)

*  Do you ask for a parking spot at the mall?

*  Lord, give me a good day?

*  Or do you ask him to restore wrecked marriages, heal the sick, and grant people far from God will find  new life in Christ?

Second: Prayer is a process over time.

• Moses was 80 years old when having these conversations/prayer with God.

I thank God there is grace for us slow learners!!:)  But also the reality of needing to finally “get it”

Thirdly: A person of prayer doesn’t always accept the apparent answer.

10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” Ex 32:10

Moses didn’t accept God’s answer (it doesn’t fit God’s character — love). For Moses not to accept God’s answer, he must have really had a personal relationship with God. He must have really known the voice God.

• Who’s voice do you know?
• The one voice I can hear and discern anywhere/anytime  is my wife’s (Angel). How? I have spent years with her, and have learned to listen to her.
• As you schedule time/conversation/prayer with your Heavenly Father, you will grow to know and hear His voice.  He will give you guidance. Trust me!

Fourthly:  Prayer Tests Our Faith.

The great preacher – C.H Spurgeon said:

God is too good to be unkind,
He is too wise to be confused,
If I cannot trace his hand,
I can always trust his heart.

What will you ask (believe) God for? Specifically… what are you asking?

Fifthly:  Prayer transforms the person who prays.

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Ten Commandments in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. Ex 34:29

You cannot come face-to-face with God and not be changed!!!  To come into the presence of our living God is to be changed!!

Are you ready to be changed?  God, through the Bible, through your time of conversation/prayer with Him, by His Holy Spirit, will guide you daily, if you will not seek independence from Him. So……….set a daily meeting time with God, just like you would a good friend.  Then, start depending/trusting your Heavenly Father, because He loves it when His kids trust & depend on Him.  Get ready!!

6.  Build A Shelter Against A Rainy Day.

To my friends living in southeast Wisconsin, that is probably an understatement?  I hope your basements are recovering from 8 inches of rain in a very short period of time?  Crazy!

Let me give you my definition of rainy day.  Rainy day = Crisis.  Crisis is normal to life and crisis’ will come.  In life you are either entering a crisis, or leaving one. If you prepare, you stay dry.  If you do not prepare, you will get soaked!:)

Where I grew up (Midwest), we often had storm shelters.  Why?  Because Tornadoes were common place.  If a tornado was coming toward your house or farm, and you decided it was time to go build a storm shelter.  I would say, “Your crazy”, and you would do likewise if I did the same thing.  If you wait till the tornado is coming to build a storm shelter, you are too late!

Rainy day’s come in certain forms:

1.  Psychological/Emotional Rain. It could be your own psychological/emotional rain or someone else’s, but in any event, it is your reality.  You can start your day out well, and be a train wreck by the end of the day.  Or possibly the flip side of that? You know what I am talking about!

2.  Physical Rain. Your body breaks down.  You get diagnosed with something unexpected.  Accidents.  Flip that around to your family, spouse, children, friend, and life can rain pretty heavy.

3.  Financial Rain. Cars, houses, credit cards, medical bills, business, unemployment, etc… Or you get the call for benevolent help from a friend, family member, or maybe just someone random.  As a pastor, that is common place for me.

4.  Spiritual Rain.  Distance from God.  Can’t seem to hear Him.  Can’t seem to understand why He allowed certain things to happen, when He is supposed to be loving?  Moral failures from trusted spiritual leaders at different levels.  All of the above can spin you off into questioning your faith, your belief system, and even make you angry over God’s seemingly, non-involvement in human affairs.  Some days it pours!

Need shelters for your rainy days?

Psychologically/Emotional Shelter: Voices/News/Images/ are all major influences.  This is my shelter:   “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable,, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Philippians 4:8.  You will become a product of what you listen to, read, see, associate with, etc…  When my rainy emotional days come, and they do.  I have learned to ask myself, “What have I been watching, or listening to that is causing me stinking thinking?”  Your emotions are so often driven by your mind.  Your shelter begins with your thinking.

Physical Shelter: Exercise, diet.  This is perhaps one of the most difficult shelters to build, but if your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then begin building your shelter by taking care of it.  But here is the kicker, take your spouse, children, friends on the journey with you.  It does not guarantee that our bodies will not break down, but I can promise you this……If you do not take care of it, it will break down!  Do not go it alone though.  Be an example for others.

Financial Shelter: I am a Dave Ramsey junkie.  No debt!  ”The borrower is a slave to the lender.”  Proverbs 22:7.  You can start building your financial shelter by taking Financial Peace University.  We have graduated 12 classes @EpicChurchLasVegas.  In fact I just talked to a man last night that graduated from FPU. He is now out of debt and saving enormous amounts of money.  Huge!  Save as fast as you can an emergency fund of $1000.  Stop spending needlessly, and start hammering out your debt.  Dave Ramsey calls it the debt snowball.  Pay off your smallest debts first, and then take the compounding money to keep paying off your other debts one at a time, hence producing a growing momentum of paying off all of your debt.  Here’s a huge financial shelter thought:  ”Do not spend, what you do not have!”:)  Rainy financial days will come, but if you have saved wisely, you will not feel a drop. Start now!

Spiritual Shelter: Rise early!  For those of you that naturally do not rise early, this will be supernatural, which is the zone that our Heavenly Father works in, and wants you to experience.  Ask for supernatural discipline to get up early, and meet silently with God, and listen to what He has to say.  Psalm 46:10. Read the bible for understanding of your Heavenly Father.  His ways are high, His thoughts incomprehensible.  When I face crisis, I attempt to figure out why something happened, or didn’t.  A personal relationship with Him is my greatest spiritual shelter!  When I am dumbfounded by God’s allowance of something, or I am wrestling with a lot of “why” questions.  I go to the back side of the book of “Job” in the bible.  God shares with Job His unfathomable greatness, and it helps me to understand, that I will never understand the depths of God, and that I must in Faith, trust Him anyway.  Your spiritual storm shelter starts being built, as your faith/trust in God grows.

Are you getting wet?  Start building your shelters! The rain is coming!

5.  Make Friendship A Fine Art.

Let me begin by saying, “Relational investment is expensive — it costs you time!!”  Now, I could get into deep friendships here, but that is not what I am going for.  I believe we will probably only have a few really deep friendships in our lives.  I thank God for those!  But what I think Wooden was saying in his Fine Art statement was:  ”Make friends at all levels, and when you have the chance, invest in those you have become friends with.”

Think about Jesus life  — He invested himself in people, for their good.  He was close to a few, but friends with many.
Here is a key:  ”There was nothing in it for Him.”   He just loved people!

Making friendship a fine art, requires investing in people intentionality, just like it takes discipline to put money into a savings account.  The  big difference though is, you are giving yourself away rather than saving for something for yourself. This requires you to live your life in a way that will win the hearts of people, hence, making friendship an art.

Here is how I have learned to apply the philosophy of “Making Friendship A Fine Art”.

First

I  learn the basics of what people need and want. What is that?

• To know and be known
• To love and be loved
• To be recognized and appreciated
• To achieve and excel
• To be part of something significant

Secondly

I intentionally go beyond the basics to individual uniqueness. Most people do not know that I do this, but I do.

• Background – I listen to their stories.
• Personality type – I am a student of personality types.  I have taken classes on this.  I usually can determine your personality within 10 minutes of meeting you.  I am about 90 percent accurate:)
• Productive strengths and destructive weaknesses – I learn these things through time spent with others.  We all have them.
• Fears – Most people have fears. As I learn them, I work to help people overcome them.
• What they want out of life – I help move people to accomplish their dreams.  Whether they know it or not, I am often subtly moving people towards life accomplishments.  It is so rewarding for me to see people develop a life mission, and then actually execute it.  What a thrill!

Lastly

I count the cost.

• You have to be willing to set your agenda aside and pay attention to people.
• You actually have to like people and be willing to get involved in their lives.
• You have to be willing to be hurt, misunderstood, or embarrassed.  Sound like fun?
• You have to be able to move beyond “knowing” to building, sustaining and enjoying these friendships.

Here is the bottom line in “Making Friendship A Fine Art.”  YOU HAVE TO CARE ABOUT PEOPLE!!!

What are you waiting for??

Over the years, the Bible has increasingly become my ultimate source. It gives me truth, and leads me to understand the heart of my Heavenly Father in deep and intimate ways.  Here is what the bible says:

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine (truth), for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man/woman of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

“Study to show yourself approved unto God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

As a student of God’s Word I  examine Scripture to understand its meaning . . .  Here’s how I study it:

One Time: What did it mean at one time, to the original audience?

All Time: What is the universal and timeless principle we can learn?

Now Time: What should we do in response to it?

My goal is to read two hours of the text of scripture, for every one hour of additional book reading I do.  I am not legalistic about it, but God’s Word has taught me more than any other book I have ever read.  You get the point.  Read the bible!  The best online version I have found is:  http://www.youversion.com

Authors & books come a dime a dozen.  Especially with the rise of the blogosphere, there are more people writing, editing, and self-publishing.  That is not wrong or bad, but it makes me be quite selective as to what I choose to read.  FYI – I love my Kindle.  With electronic reading, and downloads, I have had instant access to books, which has made it much easier for me to read them at a faster pace.  Loving it!

Here are some of my current reads:

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible by Scot McKnight

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan

Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor by Robert D. Lupton

The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church by Andrew Farley

Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less (Leadership Network Innovation Series) by David Browning

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

3.  Help Others.

Sounds simple right?  Immediately many of you may be thinking, homeless, orphans, sick, elderly, etc.  While benevolence to the under resourced is necessary, and an earmark of Disciples of Jesus Christ.  I think this philosophy goes a little bit further than touching the fringe and outcast of our culture.

Let me explain.  John Wooden made his men that he led, better.  He invested in them at every turn.

Of the 180 players who played for him, Wooden knew the whereabouts of 172. Of course, it’s not hard when most of them would call, checking on his health, secretly hoping to hear some of his simple life lessons so that they could write them on the lunch bags of their kids, who would roll their eyes. “Discipline yourself, and others won’t need to,” Wooden would say. “Never lie, never cheat, never steal,” Wooden would say. “Earn the right to be proud and confident.”

If you played for him, you played by his rules: Never score without acknowledging a teammate. One word of profanity, and you’re done for the day. Treat your opponent with respect.

He believed in hopelessly out-of-date stuff that never did anything but win championships. No dribbling behind the back or through the legs. “There’s no need,” he’d say. No UCLA basketball number was retired under his watch. “What about the fellows who wore that number before? Didn’t they contribute to the team?” he’d say. No long hair, no facial hair. “They take too long to dry, and you could catch cold leaving the gym,” he’d say.

That one drove his players bonkers. One day, All-America center Bill Walton showed up with a full beard. “It’s my right,” he insisted. Wooden asked if he believed that strongly. Walton said he did. “That’s good, Bill,” Coach said. “I admire people who have strong beliefs and stick by them, I really do. We’re going to miss you.” Walton shaved it right then and there. Later in life Walton would call once a week to tell Wooden he loved him.

I think helping others for Wooden was more than touching the beggar on the street.  I think it was the universal belief that, every person mattered!  That God places certain people in your paths to help make them better.  To push them to do what is right.  To help them become all that they can be in life.  Wooden did just that! He helped his men become all that they could be on his watch. He helped them excel academically, morally, physically, and the list could go on.

I think Wooden’s philosophy of “Help Others”, was a shout out to mentor the people God places in your life.  Care for them.  Model a life of integrity, and demand the same from those you lead.  Then equip them with the tools necessary to become the leaders that they would eventually become.

Wooden would never tell you to not help the poor and needy.  But he would tell you to not forget to help those you directly oversee.  He believed the best, hoped the best, and saw men become the best under his leadership.   Helping others wasn’t just a clever cliché, Wooden really lived it!

Who are you helping become better everyday?

2.   Make Each Day Your Masterpiece.

Masterpiece defined:  Your greatest work.

Imagine living by that philosophy.  One that says, “I am going to bring my greatest, do my greatest, and live my greatest, everyday.  How would that impact your relationships?  How would that impact your work?  How would that change your life?  Is that even possible?  John Wooden believed it was possible, and his life is a testament to it.

Here is a beginning point for you to move in that direction.  It is not the end all of this philosophy, but it will definitely point you in the right direction of making every day your masterpiece.

1.  Learn to quiet yourself for no less than 30 minutes. I crave solitude.  A minimum of 30 minutes allows me to regain clarity.  I prefer this clarity before the world is awake.  I love the morning!  I believe clarity is the beginning of your masterpiece.  By quiet I mean, I do nothing but sit still and listen.  ”Be still and know that I am God!”  Psalms 46:10 says.  Want everyday to be a masterpiece?  Listen to the only one that can truly give you Master Peace:)

2.  Read for transformation. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7.  ”And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2.  Want to live everyday as a masterpiece?  Start reading things that are profitable, and encouraging.  The bible should be your most used and abused book!  All other books are supplemental for me.  I think the reason life masterpieces aren’t being seen that much anymore is, that people have shelved the bible and replaced it with good books.  Good though, has become an enemy of the greatest!

3.  Surround yourself with encouragers. In the bible, Barnabas (Name means – Son of encouragement), is a great example of being an encourager and believing the best in others.  Even when everybody else shunned the apostle Paul after he surrendered to Jesus.  Barnabas still believed in Paul and spoke into his life.  If your going to live everyday as a masterpiece?  You can’t live your life surrounded by Eeyore’s.  Nothing wrecks masterpieces more than critics!  Who is encouraging you?  Who are you encouraging?

4.   Take care of your body. Studies have shown, and proved that your physical health plays into your emotional, spiritual, and psychological health. Wonder why you are underperforming and not making daily masterpieces?  Because you probably have neglected your personal health.  Who’s responsible for this?  You! Eat well, exercise, and rest.  No, you do not have to, but you will never create masterpieces by neglecting yourself.  I also read that exercise halts the aging process, and will keep you looking younger longer.  Sign me up!!:)

5.    Give! As I have studied leaders at all levels.  Arguably what has made their lives masterpieces is, they gave of their time, talent, and resources.  I believe that someone who truly lives, will apply what the apostle Paul said in Philippians 2:4 “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  Daily masterpieces are created by givers, not takers!  Don’t live by the cliche “What have you done for me lately?”  Live by “What have I done for others lately?”

Your masterpieces start now!!