Do you have IT? New Sermon Series

IT.  Some people have it.  Other people want it.  Still others are jealous of it.  They’re not quite sure what it is, but they know they need it.  When you see someone with it, you know.  It is powerful, inspiring, and life-changing.  When someone has it, you want to follow them, even be like them. It gets people to do what they didn’t think was possible and go where they had only dreamed of going.  It will demand more than you’re willing to give, hurt more than you think you can endure so you can become more than what you ever thought you could become.

Of course, you’re asking, “What is it?”

Join me Sundays 8:45, 10:00 or 11:15 AM as we dive into a new series that explains what it is, how to get it, grow in it, and use it for God’s purposes.

Catch a sneak peak of the series by watching the trailer, and we hope to see you this Sunday!

How the Enemy Attacks- Plot 4

If you follow God and His purposes, then you will be opposed by God's enemies (Ephesians 6). These spiritual attacks can be both internal and external. I've been walking through Ezra and Nehemiah, pointing out the plots/ strategies of the enemy AND the antidote from God through the life of Ezra and Nehemiah to combat those plots.

Here's a brief overview of the previous plots with links to those blogposts:

1. The enemies first attack - friendship and flattery.

2. His second line of attack is just the opposite - insults and ridicule.

3. If these fail, he'll come at you with threats and discouragement (which both lead to weariness).

In Nehemiah, the next strategy to rob God's people of living their purpose didn't come from the obvious enemy (Sanballat and Tobiah) but from within their own community.

This plot from the real enemy, not the obvious one is Selfishness and Strife.

Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers... "Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.” Nehemiah 5:1,4, NIV.

The real enemy of God, the devil, stirred up strife among the people, because of the selfishness of a few. The wealthy were taking advantage of the poorer, and this caused tremendous disunity among all the Jewish people, who were trying to work together in "this great work".

It's really hard to stay focused on following Jesus and serving His purposes for our life if we are angry with other Jesus-followers, feel taken advantage of, and are not serving in unity with the larger body of Christ. Secondly, if our motivation is pride and selfishness, this will stir up strife among other Jesus-followers, who are serving with pure and selfless hearts.

When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. 7 I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them... “What you are doing is not right.” (Ne 5:6-7, 9).

Nehemiah didn't react in haste or overact, but in wisdom, immediately dealt with the conflict and corrected those who were wrong. To overcome this attack of the enemy, we must:

• deal with conflict quickly. 
• confront, correct, and challenge selfishness and pride. 

Why is this so critical?

“Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?” (Ne 5:9). Nehemiah states that the fear of God is the antidote to selfishness and pride among God-followers.
“I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let the exacting of usury stop! 11 Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the usury you are charging them—the hundredth part of the money, grain, new wine and oil.” (Ne 5:10-11).

Finally, Nehemiah models, then challenges them in generosity. Generous giving is the antidote to selfishness.

How do we overcome the plot of selfishness and strife:

• deal with conflict quickly,
• confront and repent of selfishness and pride,
• guard the testimony of God among and within the Church,
• Give generously to overcome selfishness.

How are selfishness and pride sabotaging God's purposes in your life? What conflict do you need to deal with quickly? What sin do you need to repent of? Where can you begin to give generously?

Don't FORGET- SPRING FORWARD

This Sunday, March 13th is Daylight Savings Time! That means TOMORROW!

So don't forget to set all your clocks AHEAD one hour before you go to sleep Saturday night!

Sure, we all might be a little groggier on Sunday morning, but look at the bright side...we're all one step closer to long summer days!

So pass on this friendly reminder to any sleepheads you know, and we'll have a fresh cup of coffee waiting for you this Sunday at Lifehouse...

What's Keeping Us from Living Our Dreams

It's not intentions or dreams that matter. It's action or the lack there of.

What's keeping us from living our dreams is not ability, competence, resources, or the right connections. Initially, you might be tempted to disagree and disregard my post. BUT...

I've heard lots of people share big ideas, powerful dreams, and grandiose plans with me. All of which are entirely possible. However, while they're sharing, I'm tempted to ask, "are you really serious about living that out and seeing it through?" Sharing a dream is one thing. Having good intentions is encouraging. But neither actually make anything happen.

Want to know how dreams are lived, plans are laid, and ideas are fulfilled. Action! That's right! Execution. Implementation.

It's what you actually DO that determines whether you'll accomplish your dreams or not.

If you say one thing, but continue doing what you've done or never actually do anything to move toward that dream, guess what? You're not going to live those bold ambitions.

Andy Stanley teaches and explains it best in his podcast, The Principle of the Path (listen here or read his book here). It's the steps you take in a direction that lead to a destination NOT your intended destination. You can want and dream to arrive at a specific destination. BUT if you step in another direction, you will invariably arrive at the destination with which you've actually walked.

So, you want to live your dream? Do something. Write out all the action steps it will take over the next 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years. Then, discover and decided on one action step that you can take immediately to begin living out that dream.

Read a book. Start writing a book. Take a college course. Start down-sizing. Start giving more. Run ONE mile. Throw out the cigarettes or soda or chips. Make the phone call. Send in the application. Make the appointment.

You can save a baby's life!

The Hagerstown Area Pregnancy Center is an incredible organization that serves those in a crisis pregnancy, as well as their unborn child.

Several churches in our area have rallied support behind the Center to raise funds to help them become a full-care center open 5 days a week.

If you're collecting coins for the Hag.Pregnacy Center, fill your baby bottle and bring it into Lifehouse by the end of February! (Please return unfilled bottles as well.)

Thanks so much for turning your change into a BIG change!

Lesson #10 from 2010

It's not the BIG plans but the LITTLE steps that matter.

Here are a few sub principles that undergird this one:

• under promise, over deliver. And when we can't deliver on the promises or expectations we've given, we must come to you and tell you honestly, and explain why.
• set realistic deadlines, eventually they arrive.

There are lots of big dreams and bold ambitions buried among the tombs of cemeteries. Why? There is a great divide between dreaming and doing the necessary action steps everyday to arrive at that dream.

Big dreams and bold initiatives feel illusive and unrealistic. And they are, especially if they're God-size and God-led. Those kind of Kingdom- dreams should scare us and leave us feeling like we will fail if God doesn't intervene. But should we sit around and wait for God to accomplish His dream in our life? NO!

How are we responsible to live out the BIG dreams of God in our life?

1. Pray and listen to God to receive God-sized dreams that will accomplish His purposes for our life, and advance His Kingdom rather than our agenda.
2. Develop clear strategy to accomplish this dream, set objectives and timelines,
3. Develop measurable, realistic, actionable small steps that daily move you in the direction of fulfilling the strategy of the dream. Attach reasonable timelines AND deadlines to these action steps.
4. JUST DO IT! Every day we must do the hard work of acting out our dreams by taking action and laboring. 
5. Prayerful seek out the resources (people, finances, etc) needed to accomplish the objectives of the dream.
6. Share and give away every small "win" or victory along the way. Give God ALL the glory! No matter how hard we've worked to fulfill the dream, God gives the increase and produces the results through us.
7. Adjust the strategy and action steps as needed but NEVER loose sight of the BIG dream. When you fail, don't give it, it was just a good lesson in achieving the ultimate dream.

Dreams are lived in the little, daily steps. We only make it to the mountaintop if we're willing to pay the price in preparation, pain, hiking, and enduring.

As a reference, read Collin's, Good to Great, chapter on the Flywheel Principle or a brief overview here.

Every little step leads in a direction.

Are you taking small steps toward God's purposes and plans for your life? Or are you stepping one direction but dreaming in another? 

Lesson #11 from 2010

Less is More. The concept isn't original to me, but I learned this lesson the hard way in 2010.

First my confession: I can be a little bit workaholic and a lot passionate. So, I tend to work really hard in the ministry and want to get and keep my hands in everything. However, I learned early in church planting that I have to spend most my time training and developing leaders then giving them meaningful opportunities to lead. Once they're proven, I don't micro-manage, but trust them to lead and continue to build God's Kingdom.

However, I create more work for myself and our team by dreaming bigger dreams and running after even greater purposes of God. Then, I have to keep giving away major chunks of my job description, so that we can continue to reach more people and impact God's Kingdom. So far so good. But, there are lots of areas that I don't want to give away or not sure if I can trust the leader, so I keep doing it, even when I don't want to.

In 2010, I had a few areas that I thought I was good at, even gifted, only to learn that I'm not that good, and even worse, I was putting my hands into areas where others were better equipped. This zapped my energy, passion, and even caused me to start doubting myself. Since I was drained, I had less energy and focus to lead in the areas where I'm very passionate and feel most gifted. Result- weary, discouraged leader who had to learn to give away more opportunities and responsibility. Less is more!

Want biblical evidence for this lesson: read Romans 12.

The teaching part of this I heard and read from Andy Stanley in his book, Next Generation Leader and his leadership podcast here. I'd recommend all leaders listen and read them.

Here are the keys to what I've heard and now, learned the hard way.

The more I try to do, the less I get done. The more areas I try to work at, the less impact I have in any area. And the more I do, the less others can do.

The less I do the more I accomplish. The less I do, the more opportunity others have and the more they get done.

Hardest part of this lesson for me: to be honest enough and self-aware enough to realize that I am not as good at as many things as I thought I was. And there are others that are much better at most things than me.

My (and your) options:

1. to feel insecure and inadequate, and try to improve in those areas, and keep spreading our selves so thin, and hope that no one notices OR


2. admit my weaknesses in humility and acknowledge my strengths, then focus the bulk of my energy in the areas of my greatest strengths.

Leaders offer the most good to the Church when they leverage their greatest gifts, and maximize their full potential in the specific areas that God has uniquely anointed and gifted them. However, leaders hurt the Church when they focus on strengthening their weaknesses, then use those marginally improved weaknesses in the Church.

We must do what ONLY we can do.

This doesn't mean that we'll have shorter work weeks, just more focused hours while we're working.

This isn't an excuses to NOT strength areas of weak character. We must grow in Christ-like character. I'm writing about areas of limitations in skill, competence, and calling. In character, we must constantly be growing, in the others- less is more.

Thanks, Lifehouse, for your patience as I grow and learn these hard lessons the hard way.

Ask yourself: what are your strengths? What can only you do? how can you do that to the fullest for God's Kingdom? What do you need to stop doing? Make a "don't do" list.

2 services and other updates

First, I really enjoyed leading our 2 services and preaching twice yesterday. It fired me up, and that's after not eating for a week, since we're in 21 Days of Fasting and Prayer.

Secondly, please be patient with us as we work out some kinks in the services and the building. I know it was still cold in the lobby. We're working aggressively on it!

In leading both services, there are things I really like about both of them. I can see why some of you said that you wanted to attend both, just to see what they'd be like. Hopefully, you enjoyed which ever service you participated in and were impacted and changed by God's presence.

Third, join us at 6am and 6pm Mon - Fri at the theater for 1 hr of prayer. There is a different focus each day, and it'd be great to have a group of people to rally in prayer and truly cry out to God for our community and church.

Finally, don't forget that we have a very important "business" meeting this Saturday starting at 8am. If you're a ministry partner at LHE, we need you there, since you'll be deciding whether to approve the decision to move forward to purchase the theater or not. Once we meet, we will break into groups and begin renovations.

If you are planning on joining a renovation team, please let us know ASAP, since we'll need you to be ready to work and bring tools depending on which team you serve on.

Thanks for reading and let's walk with the confidence that our lives and invest of time, energy, and money is making a huge difference for God's Kingdom and eternity!

Living and leading on principle- part 1

People want to copy or replicate what works, whether in business, ministry, marriage, parenting, or any other life- pursuit. That's why their are how-to books that top the best-seller lists week after week. We all want the techniques and methods on how to get rich, parent an all-star, or lead a community-impacting church.

But does replication and duplication really work? Can I copy your methods and reasonably expect to get the same results?

The answer is emphatically NO! Now, don't panic, it's not that you should throw away every book, stop reading this blog, and ignore every teacher. It's just that we can't COPY or duplicate a method and expect the same results as our method trend-setter.

Most books and methodologies get established, because someone experimented, diligently worked, prayed, re-tried, failed, cried, fasted, struggled THEN experience, over time, what we call "success". Then, they write a book , teach a class or seminar EXPLAINING the techniques that took them a lifetime of process and brokenness to uncover and live.

It's NOT the techniques that produce the results we all desire, it's the process of living by God-ordained principles.

DON'T look for the techniques or methods to effectiveness. That will only lead you to unhealthy comparisons and frustration.

DO study the principles that underlined another person's effectiveness, and follow their example. Jesus lived a principled life and taught us His WAY! He did not offer us a bunch of methods. When we lived on principle, methods will come and go, but we will live solid on TRUTH!