Where Does God Go on Mondays

Hope you enjoy it as much asI did . Interested in your comments

Where Does God Go on Mondays By Danny Guglielmucci

How To Last In Ministry

Read a great post on Pastor Dave Fergusons Blog ,reagarding a message he had listened to by Pastor Rick Warren ,in regard to Ministry Burnout.

The thoughts of The Apostle Paul always challenge me.I have run the race,I have fought the good fight ,I have finished the race. God wants all of us to Run Fight and Finish well.

Developing People

When you are in leading people ,the purpose is to take people from where they are to where they can be. Most people don’t see their potential. They tend to see their faults and their limitations. We tend to see people’s past and their present. God sees our present and our future. He speaks into our future calling us to places where we haven’t yet been.

Someone once said the greatest use of your life is to spend it on something that will outlast it .

Thats why I love ministry because its all about creating vision in people lives and working with them to make that reality.Here is a great post from Pastor Craig Groeschel on this very subject of Developing People

Leadership “Be attitudes”

10 Essential Leadership “Be attitudes”

Lead from what you know but you reproduce who you are

1. Be a person of integrity ·

The work of Christ always begins in our hearts and works outward · Same on inside as you are on the outside · Leaders are often gifted.
They can begin to depend on their gift for success, to the neglect of their character · Daniel was incredibly gifted, ten times more than the next most wisest ·
Daniel 6:10 – “… he went home and got down on his knees and prayed as was his daily custom.” · Integrity isn’t developed in a day, its daily

2. Be a faithful servant ·

Don’t serve to get recognized or for promotion · Everything you do in the name of Jesus is significant ·
Your service prepares you for your calling and your calling prepares you for your service ·

In David there was a 20-year gap between the prophecy and the fulfillment. This is called process. Process prepares you for what he has called us to be. If he made us immediately into what we would be we would screw it up. Saul – chasing donkeys and then king – it messed him up. God didn’t do that to David, he took him through process

3. Be passionate ·

If you don’t have passion you will be consumed · Psalm 69.9 – passion for your house will consume me … the joy of the Lord is our strength and the oil that keeps our motors running · The word enthusiasm comes from the ancient Greek word EN +THEOS meaning “inspired by or possessed by God”.

4. Be growing in grace ·

2nd Peter 3.18 tells us to grow in grace. Grace itself does not grow. We grow in grace · If we fail to understand grace, we try to earn favour with God. End up in mere religious works. Entrapped. We must come to the understanding of how much God really loves us and forgives us · Heb 13.9 says that our hearts must be established by grace

5. Be knowledgeable in the basics ·

Don’t need insights in the secret mysteries of the Bible · But we need to understand basics as well · Unity/Offences/Forgiveness/Identity etc– Who we are and Whose we are · We can’t consistently perform in a way that’s inconsistent with the way we see our self ·

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less

6. Be teachable ·

Read books · Talk with people further along the journey than yourself · Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind · The purposes of God being fulfilled dependent on God’s people thinking well

7. Be an opportunity taker ·

The righteous shall live by Faith · Faith is characterized by risk and adventure · This gets us out of the boat and out on the water · We need to shift from continually asking God what he wants, or what he wants us to do, and ask for the courage to do what we already know

8. Be yourself ·

Adopt from others but adapt to yourself · You are all Gods got, and you are the best God has got · He doesn’t keep a secret recipe up in heaven

9. Be plugged into God ·

Must be fueled by eternal connection · John 15vs 5.The time that you invest in your relationship with Christ isn’t preparation for the work, it is the work · 2 Corinthians 8:5 - “... gave themselves first to the Lord and then to others as was Gods will” ·

If your output exceeds your input, your upkeep will be your downfall ·

The Starving Baker represents the person who is so busy feeding others that he neglects feeding himself. Sometimes leaders put so much into the people they lead that they fail to nourish their own lives. “Their ‘talk’ is great. Their ‘walk’ becomes fake.” “They are spiritually starving … so close to food, yet never eating.”

10. Be surrendered to God ·

Nelson Mandela said our greatest threat is not so much that we are inadequate but that we are powerful beyond measure · To the degree that you come under power and authority will be to the degree that you are in power and authority · Luke 7. Roman centurion

Comfort or Comfortable ?

Christians are more uncomfortable doing evangelsim ,than Non Christians themselves

Please read that again -Nice and Slowly .Wow what a disturbing trend.

What can we do to change this around -What can you do?-What are you doing?

What is God concerned with most for all lives?
Is is that we are comforted or that we are comfortable?

My own conviction is that ,God is more concerned about our comfort than making us comfortable .Jesus didn't die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous! The will of God is not an insurance plan. It's a daring plan. In fact, the will of God doesn't get easier. God gives us more difficult, daring, and dangerous things to do! Read Hebrews 11.

In the words of a daring twentieth-century missionary, C.T. Studd,
"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell." The church needs more Studds!

How To Last in Ministry

Read a great post on Pastor Dave Fergusons blog regarding a message he had listened to by Pastor Rick Warren ,in regard to Ministry Burnout. Some great lessons to apply here

Rick Warren - Preaching On Purpose

RICKS THOUGHTS ON "PREACHING ON PURPOSE"

• Nothing is a more powerful force in your church than the preaching.
• God's purpose is to make us like Christ. (II Corinthians 3:18)
• God wants to bring conviction and change our conduct and character.
• "...that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.: II Timothy 3:16,17
• Teaching the Bible is not about is not ultimately producing maturity; it's about ministry and mission.
• Application is what is lacking in most teaching.
• Our preaching needs to "build bridges" from the scripture to life.

HOW TO PREPARE TO PREACH ON PURPOSE

1. Study the text. (observation)
2. Find the timeless truth. (interpretation)
3. Think of your audience. (contextualization)
4. Apply the truth to their situation (personalization)

10 THINGS I'VE LEARNED ABOUT PREACHING ON PURPOSE

1. All behavior is based on a belief. We do what we do (good or bad) because we believe something about the behavior.
2. When we sin we think that is the best decision in the moment. When you figure out the lie behind the behavior you will be a better preacher.
3. Change always starts in your mind.
4. To help people change we must change their beliefs first. The battle of sin always starts with helping people to see the lie they believe. You must expose the lie.
5. Trying to change people's behavior without changing their beliefs is a waste of time.
6. We need to lead people to repentance. Repentance is simply getting people to change their mind. Repentance is another term for a paradigm shift. "Metanoia" means to change your mind; it is not change you're behavior.
7. You don't change people's minds; the applied word of God does change their minds.
8. Changing the way I act is the result or fruit of repentance.
9. The "deepest" kind of preaching is preaching for repentance.
10. To produce lasting life change: enlighten the mind, engage the emotions, and challenge the will.