Taking the guess work out of finding God's call on your life

Have you ever met those Christians who are really confident in God's calling on their life. They say things like, "I just really sense his leading in my spirit." And then you smile and nod, all the while thinking, What? How come I can never sense anything in my spirit? Is this guy full of it, or is there something I don't know?

Photo courtesy of Hamed Saber at Flickr.com

Maybe you don't feel like you have the same highly refined spiritual sniffer that some people seem to have, but that's okay because you don't need it. God has already given you everything you need to know what exactly what direction he wants you to go. 

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An inside look at the interview all people must pass to get into heaven

The other day I was picking up my office when I came across an unsigned baptism certificate that I was supposed to give to a friend I baptized... a few months ago. So I shot him a quick text, "Hey man, I've got your baptism certificate. Don't let me forget to give it to you, because you can't get into heaven without it."

Photo courtesy of Chris Jones at Flickr.com

He's new to church, but he caught on pretty quick. He told me he would pick it up and asked if he needed anything else. I told him he needed three references. Then our conversation sparked up an interesting question. I asked him, "What do you think the interview for heaven would look like?" And his answer painted a perfect picture of how so many people view heaven and eternal life. He said,

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Men, here's why settling down never ever means you're just settling.

We've all seen this before. A guy is having a conversation with his friends, and from the distance comes the voice of his wife, "Honey, will you come here?" He looks at the other guys with sad eyes, as if to say 'help me', and then walks away. After he's gone, his friends stand around and each make a jab at their emasculated buddy for being whipped.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Congleton at Flickr.com

Among young men today, there's a common mindset that goes like this: Marriage is the end of fun. 
And once I settle down, I'll be settling for a boring life. Now, most guys won't come right out and say that, but it's what they're thinking. And the numbers prove it.

A study from the Barna Group shows that marriage is on the decline among young people. In 2008, only 84% of Christians tied the knot, while 74% of non-Christian faith members got married, and only 65% of atheists and agnostics got married.

There are a slew of reasons that people are putting off and even avoiding marriage all-together. But not the least among them is the above mentioned mindset that says marriage is settling for less than the best.

And with that understanding of marriage, many of those same guys eventually get married. And in the end, it's what they don't understand that kills their marriage. And what they don't understand is this: it's impossible to settle in marriage. Let me explain.

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My kid renounced her faith, here's how I responded (SPOILER: it wasn't by screaming myself horse, though it crossed my mind).

Disclaimer: I always check with my family before I air our business over the internet. I asked Alura if I could share this with you, and she was all like, "I don't care", which is teenager for yes. 

One of the best parts of raising kids is watching and helping them grow. The first step, first word and first romance are just a few of the rewarding times that we parents get to come along side our kids and guide and direct them.

Coincidentally, one of the most difficult parts of raising kids is watching them grow up. There comes a season in every kid's life where they've had a lot of their firsts. It's a time where they begin to want and even need to step out from under our guidance and direction to make their own decisions. Sometimes it's exciting, but the rest of the time it can be flat out terrifying - like the time Alura told Allison and I she's not a Christian anymore.

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The crucial difference between Jesus and the Devil, and what it means for your mind

If I asked you to, in one word, describe what the Devil does, what would you say? Most people (at least the ones I asked) would say "the tempter" or "the tormentor" or something like that. And those answers are accurate.

Photo courtesy of Willaim Brawley at Flickr.com

There is, however, another distinct title that bares more weight, especially to Christians. And you need to know about it.

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My atheist neighbor knows God's heart for evangelism better than most Christians [Video]

So, I totally reneged on the commitment I made last week. I wrote about how I typically ignore the verses that my boss gives me to preach on, and this time I really wanted to stick with the given text for once. Then I threw it out anyway. But only because I found a really awesome one. 

My church's current series, Domino Effect, has been about God's plan to save the world. Part of the plan is Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection. And the other part of the plan is us. God has always intended to work through His people to save the world. 

The sermon below is about three types of Christians, and how they approach the sharing of the gospel. And here's a spoiler alert, two of them are not helpful. And the Bible only calls us to one of them. 

So please give the sermon a watch or a listen, and then feel free to stick your thoughts, questions, or constructive criticisms in the comment section below. I also included a synopsis of the sermon below in case you're unable to watch the video. 

Having trouble viewing this video?  Click here to watch. from moonvalley on Vimeo.

If you're unable to watch the video, here's a synopsis of the sermon. 

God wants to save the world, and He wants to use us to do it. So He's called us to lean toward our neighbors with love (Matt. 22:39, Mark 12:31). And in Colossians 4:5-6, Paul addresses the way we're supposed to talk to our neighbors while we're leaning toward them. He says:

"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Colossians 4:5-6

Paul's words point out three kinds of Christians that live today, but only one of these three Christians takes an approach that is helpful in sharing the gospel with most people. So we'll use these three kinds of Christians as a framework for explaining Paul's words. Here they are.

Silent Stan
There's a mentality among some Christians that goes like this: We want to live our lives in such a way that our actions share our faith without any need for words. Here's the only problem with that - it doesn't work.

Our faith is such a central part of our lives, that we're bound to talk about it. And Paul's words acknowledge that. When it comes to communicating with outsiders, he says, "Let your speech be always gracious."

The implication here is that, as we interact with other people, we will talk about our faith. And claiming that we can do so without using words doesn't make any sense. It'd be as if  I claimed that the wedding ring on my finger clearly communicates everything my friends need to know about my marriage.

In reality, no one knows me for very long before I tell them about my wife, and how awesome she is. And the reality is this - if we have a living, growing relationship with Jesus, we're going to talk about it.

Megaphone Mike
This title belongs to Christians who see every non-Christian a conversion challenge to present the Gospel. His attitude says: If you don't know Jesus, I'm going to tell you about Him, no matter what. He's got a really noble heart. Unfortunately, he's relationally def and blind.

When his non-Christian friends and neighbors are talking to him, they sense that he's only listening to them in as far as he has to in order to jerk the conversation back to where he needs it so that he can give them a full gospel presentation.

Paul confronts the attitude of this guy with his very next phrase, "Let your speech be always gracious" His words call us to use common sense and authentic love when it comes to conversations with people who don't know Jesus. And that requires a totally different kind of attitude.

Authentic Andy
This is the attitude that Paul is calling Christians to. He says, "Let your speech be... seasoned with salt" And the imagery here is that there's a level of measuring that comes with quality interactions with you and your non-Christian neighbor.

If Silent Stan is represented by almost no salt and Megaphone Mike is represented by way too much salt, then Authentic Andy sits somewhere in the middle. He wants to make the best use of his time. And while he's not afraid to talk about his faith, he also ensures that his conversations are seasoned with salt and not containing an unwanted and off-putting gospel presentation.

My interaction with an Atheist. 
Last week, Allison and Invited our neighbors over for dinner. They don't go to church. In fact, Alex (the husband) identifies himself as an atheist.

At some point during the evening we ended up talking about our beliefs. And while I don't want to give out our whole conversation, I do want to share some of the text message that Alex sent me the following day. He said, "Thanks for reaching out and suggesting dinner last night. We had a really great time... I appreciate so much connecting with you on a human level, knowing that religion is always present, but like you said last night, never a hidden agenda."

I think that my neighbor, Alex, nailed the heart of Paul's words when he said, "religion is always present, but... never a hidden agenda," He nailed it so well, in fact, that I used his words as the big idea for my sermon.

This week as you interact with you neighbors and contemplate sharing your faith, think about the words of an atheist:

Let your faith be, "always present, but never a hidden agenda."

Please leave your comments in the section below. Thanks for reading.

Tim

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The one thing young punks need to become real men.

Not too long ago, I sat across a breakfast table from a young man who wasn't happy with his life. While his age made him an adult, he felt like he wasn't really a man. And he struggled with a lot of the basic necessities of adulthood, such as finances, integrity, work ethic, etc.

Photo courtesy of Nebojsa Bobic at flickr.com

As with most people, he was his own worst enemy. He admitted to me that one of his greatest hindrances to becoming the man was his own laziness and lack of self control. He was asking for help with problems that stemmed from deep within himself. 

I sat staring at him wondering How am I going to help this guy? Ultimately, the answer surprised even me. 

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My atheist neighbor has been a better Christian than me.

The goal of all Christian/Non-Christian relationships is for us to declare the gospel to them through our actions and words... right?

Photo courtesy of Steve Snodgrass at flickr.com

Obviously, we're supposed to share the gospel with the world (Matt 28:19-20). But I'm beginning to think there's possibly a way to take the Great Commission too far. And before anyone builds a cross on which to crucify me for saying that, let me explain. 

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When Faced With The Cynic Of Your Nightmares

There was a little more than a minute left on the countdown before first service. I sat back stage in the greenroom with the rest of the praise team, who were chatting and catching up. I stood up and gave my traditional invitation: “Let’s go play some music.” Everyone got up and followed me onto the stage. I took a quick survey of the room. Everything seemed to be going well. We had had a good rehearsal. All of our tech was running well. The room even seemed to be abnormally full for the beginning of first service.

The lights came up and I confidently counted the band in for the first song - Glorious Day by Casting Crowns. As we played, I turned my focus toward worshipping God.

That’s when it happened.

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I Have A Worship Question... Outreach?

by Tim H. Swanson

How many staff or ministry leadership meetings have you sat through where people get fired up saying things like, “Our church isn’t growing because we’re not reaching out to the community”, “We’ve become too inward -focused”, “We need to begin actually discipling people”. Then, they often have some convenient numbers and statistics to support their points. I've heard lots of these, but after that first little bit I usually have a hard time recounting how the conversation goes because I’ve been in the habit of tuning out after the statistics. It’s not that I disagree with those people. I think they’re right. But, when they start talking about missions and evangelism all I hear is, “Blah blah blah evangelism. Blah blah blah 80% unchurched. Blah blah a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with music.” By the time they’re done talking I’m either playing Angry Birds or tooling around on ChurchStageDesignIdeas.com.

The issue with these conversations, and the reason I tune out, is not that these fired up people are wrong. It’s that I, like too many others, carry around a bad attitude about outreach. I have a totally jacked up misconception about evangelism. I feel like it’s someone else’s job. When people start talking about sharing the gospel with the unreached, I start looking around to figure out who is supposed to do that. The problem is, when I look around at everybody else, I’m looking in the wrong direction. I should be looking in a mirror.  

After His resurrection, Jesus sat down with His disciples and told them this: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." But, like me, many Christian leaders today act as if he said, "Okay, I want you to run church services. It doesn't matter who they appeal to. If new people don't come, blame it on the culture. Peter, teach themed sermon series about whatever is relevant. Matthew, I want you to take an offering at the services. John, you can play guitar right? Good. Write some songs about me and make everyone sing them. And this is the most important thing, let the planning of those services consume all of your time. I don't want any of you to have any real relationships outside of those couple hours on Sunday morning." 

As a worship leader, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that reaching out to nonbelievers is somebody else's job. but that's just not the case. Jesus calls all believers to be witnesses. That includes singers, instrumentalists, tech team members, and most of all the worship leader. As the leader everybody is going to look to you to see how to act. 

If your church is talking about outreach, it has to begin with you, especially if you're a leader. Evangelism takes place in conversations between believers and nonbelievers. You and I need to become the believer in one of those conversations. If you're anything like me and you've developed a bad attitude about outreach, I'd like to simply prompt you to think about your own attitude with a few questions. 

1. Have I been putting the responsibility of outreach on somebody else?


2. Who do I know who doesn't know Jesus?

3. God, will you provide an opportunity for me to tell somebody who doesn't believe about what You've done in my life?

In my church, outreach has to start with me. Like a lot of church leaders, I live inside the Christian bubble. I graduated from a Christian college. I work at a church, which is where my social network is. I even exclusively attend Christian 12 step meetings. But even I have a sold short list of nonbelievers that I can pray for opportunities to share Jesus with. The truth is, anyone with Facebook or an email contacts list knows someone that needs Jesus. If you can't think of anyone right now, don't worry. They're out there. I promise. All we have to do is pray for the opportunity and God will provide. He's good that way.

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The Question Every Church Leader Should Be Asking

"What would it take for you to believe in yourself down to your very toes?" - Laurie Beth Jones (Jesus:CEO) 

by Tim H. Swanson

In her book, Jesus: CEO, Laurie Beth Jones recounts a seminar she attended where the speaker asked people who believed in themselves 100% to raise their hands. She says only two people raised their hands. The speaker went on to lower the percentage. She observes that most people raised their hands when the speaker got to 75%.

Today in the church, there is an epidemic of unbelief. It's not unbelief in God that's the problem. If people didn't believe in God they wouldn't work at a church. There are too many easier ways to make a living. The issue today is that people don't believe in themselves. Our churches are staffed with people who have endless faith in the power of Jesus, but when it comes to his power being in them the belief meter drops off.

The truth is, to be effective leaders in our culture, we have to believe 200%. We have to begin with 100% belief in God. His Spirit is our single source of empowerment, so we had better begin with wholehearted

reliance on it. However, once God has empowered us to do great things, we also have to believe 100% in ourselves. He certainly is the one who accomplishes all that is good on this earth. But never forget, He wants to work through us. That self belief is vital for two reasons. First, when we question our own ability, we are directly questioning the God who has empowered us. Secondly, when we lead with uncertainty and self-consciousness we avoid risk, the thing that we need to accomplish greatness by reaching unbelievers with the Gospel.

Let me ask you, how much do you believe in yourself? What is your disbelief, in yourself, keeping you from doing? Who in your life is suffering because you don't believe in yourself?

Ultimately, Laurie's question is the main point. "What would it take for you to believe in yourself down to your very toes?"

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