Archive - 2009

The Divine Commodity

I have the best group of people on the planet to work with at Coastal Community Church.  They are an amazing, eclectic mix of individuals who bring differing voices and thoughts to the table.  I love serving together with them as we make Jesus famous in Ft. Lauderdale.

As a staff we are reading a book by Skye Jethani called The Divine Commodity.  The book is about discovering our faith beyond being consumer Christians.  We are just in chapter one but there are some great and thought provoking quotes that I thought I would share.

“Problems cannot be solved with the same consciousness that created them.” Albert Einstein

“Questions of implementation are of no consequence until the vision can be imagined.  The imagination must come before implementation.  Our culture is competent to implement almost anything and imagine almost nothing.

“The fertile land of imagination is a terrain we pass through, not a field we cultivate.”

“Jesus’ adult followers suffered from a chronic lack of imagination.  Their minds were shackled by conventionality.”

“Art should do more than present reality; it should represent reality by uncovering the truth that is not apparent to the naked eye.”  Vincent Van Gogh

“He didn’t merely present the world as it is; he represented it as one full of God’s presence and love.  But to see this world a person needs more than eyes.  He or she needs a ray from on high, an imagination awakened and illuminated by God.”

“If your imagination of God is starved then when you come up against difficulties, you have not power, you can only endure darkness.”  Oswald Chambers

and the most convicting statement

“The contemporary American church is so largely enculturated to the American ethos of consumerism that it has little power to believe or to act.”

Consumerism

I was listening recently to Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Texas.  He said something that really caught my attention and it was this:

“If you Believe & Support but don’t Belong then you’re a consumer.”

So many times people come to church, believe in the message and even support the message and the church but they don’t want to belong.  They don’t want to make the commitment that determines whether you belong or not.  Today commitment has become a bad word.  If you commit to something then it is seen as a requirement rather than a relationship.  It is like my marriage to Shayla, dating was great.  We had a lot of fun but I didn’t get all the benefits to the relationship until I made a commitment by putting a ring on her finger.

We are a consumeristic society today.  We want all the benefits without the commitment that goes along with those benefits.  Why are we afraid of really being a part of something today?  Why are we all about ourselves?  When we are all about ourselves we limit our ability to impact people, but when we commit to being a part of something larger than ourselves we can achieve the extraordinary in life.

What are you committed to in life?

Unbelievable

Probably one of the most impressive and inspiring videos I have ever seen in my life.  If this doesn’t make you think I don’t know what will.

I need some HELP!!!

I am having a pretty big problem this morning.  I keep getting asked to write for the Coconut Creek Life and Parkland/Coral Springs Life Magazine and I am finding out that while I might be able to talk well, writing is not something that I am very good at doing.  I am a pretty simple guy, with simple words and a simple message.  The people who write for this magazine have more degrees than a thermometer and use words that I don’t even understand in their writings.  I guess that I am a little intimidated by the fact that maybe I have been fooling people for so long into thinking that I am smart, that if I submit what I have written down everyone will know that I am not.

I need some help!!!!  Anyone out there a ghost writer where I can give you my thoughts and you can craft them in a way that is smart and eloquent?

This Weekend

I am super excited about this weekend.  I cannot wait to share what God has put on my heart, in fact I think that it is really the heartbeat of Coastal Community Church.  One of the reasons I am so excited about this message is that it really sets the tone for the upcoming four weeks.  We are going to be starting a new series that I believe every person wants to know the answer to and that is What is God’s plan for MY life.  The one question that people would ask if they had the opportunity to ask God anything is “Why am I here on earth?”  In other words, what’s the plan for me.

This weekend we will discover how we can be rich towards God.  I believe that this weekend will challenge your thinking as well as what your living for in life.  You don’t want to miss tomorrow.  Be ready for God to do something new in your life.

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