Be The ONE

This past Sunday morning at Greenbrier Church, worship was flat out phenomenal!  It was one of those times for me where it was such a huge honor to speak in the middle of the worship service, yet an overwhelming challenge…wanting to honor God the way He was honoring us with His obvious presence!   During the message i  shared a glimpse of the incredible tension i live with.  As God sent John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-6) as “A voice of ONE calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him “ …i believe (NO! Let me rephrase that…) – I KNOW that HE, Jesus Christ, our Savior, Lord and King is calling YOU and I to “Be The ONE” in this generation!  It is our privilege and our responsibility to prepare the way for Jesus!  It is our privilege and responsibility to “Lead Others To Follow Jesus” – Just as John the baptist did!

The Tension:

Each week i see you- the individual faces of our incredible Greenbrier Church body!  I know many of your names, but even that is getting harder as we continue growing ….but i know your faces and care dearly for you as the shepherd of this awesome flock!  We are so blessed with those we are reaching for Jesus, the number of adults and children we are seeing sell out to Christ and be baptized…the marriages being transformed….the lives eternally changed!

AT THE SAME TIME ….i see the empty seats next to you.  For every empty seat in both services, there are easily 500 in this community do NOT know my Jesus and have no church connection at all!  How can we reach them?  Why are we not distressed at not reaching them?  We MUST reach them….as God so loved YOU that you were reached for His Fame!

The Challenge:

-what i am asking EACH Person at Greenbrier to pray daily, beginning this week:

“My Jesus, Who is the ONE that you want me to “Be The ONE” and lead to YOU Jesus – This Week?” As God brings that person to mind, trust the Holy Spirit & obey God (ie. quit making excuses as to why God wouldn’t have you reach them), and Be The ONE in their life to either tell them about your Jesus or INVITE THEM to join you this Sunday at Greenbrier Church.

We have to reach them!  We Must give them Jesus!  We are called to prepare the way!   Let’s do this for His Fame!!!

BE THE ONE!

FLOURESCENT LIGHT – John 1:9

My Agenda: To equip and challenge YOU to spend Life Transforming time with Jesus daily (see the original blog: GOD TIME – The Beginning).  Reading these will mess some of you up because you will realize that I, like you, am a messed up wretched sinner… pursuing a radical Savior -  JESUS!   By sharing part of my daily time with my Jesus with you , I hope & pray this will ignite you to pursue HIM yourself all the more!   -That you realize how easy it can be for you to let God’s Word…His Voice…His Holy Spirit…speak DIRECTLY TO YOU! Challenge: Read…then you take the steps to begin your own time at Jesus feet in His Word!

“SOAP“:  S – Scripture; O – Observation; A – Application; P – Prayer

FLOURESCENT LIGHT

S – John 1:9 “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world”

O – A LOT of imitation/false/pretend lights are already in the world trying to gain our attention.  Satan even masquerades as an “angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14).  How easy it is to get captivated by false light …seduced by the appearance of light that is ultimately like a bug zapper…drawing/luring us in with that which is appealing yet is purely destructive.  JESUS is the light that gives light & life to every man.  There is NO OTHER True light!  Once you see the true light, you know the imitation. Your Spirit tells you.   Just as you know the difference between flourescent & sunlight, you can see the difference here.   BUT, sometimes we stay in darkness so long, we get comfortable/adjusted to/adapted to fake light.  Once we take our eyes off the true light long enough, we begin to settle for false light.

A - I believe God gave me months of an office with neon-green walls and flourescent lights to make me disdain them both.  UHG!  After a few hours at my desk, i had to go outside.  It was like my eyes/my body craved sunlight. It was bad!  In the same way spiritually, may i never get complacent and lose sight of the greatest light – the hope – the joy – the brightness of Jesus!  As a friend did me a huge favor and painted over my neon green walls, my world began to change.  I still have the flourescent light, which i’ll deal with…for now since i have a window that allows a glimpse of real light to permeate the room.

P - Father, protect me from substitutes!  Protect me from following or even adapting to false lights – whether people, possessions, ideologies, or even church ruts.  Protect me from all that is false.  Captivate me with nothing less than THE Light that gives light to every man.

Oswald Chambers: February 2 – “Beware of competing calls once the call of God grips you.”

THE MAIN CHARACTER – John 1:8

Warning: this blog series may  mess you up! 1.) i have an “agenda”…and it is fully to equip and challenge YOU to spend Life Transforming time with Jesus daily (see the original blog: GOD TIME – The Beginning). 2.) any pedestal you might have placed me on  (crazy…but some people do that with a “pastor”)  will be kicked out after reading these.   Why?  Because I am a messed up wretched sinner… pursuing a radical Savior -  JESUS!

By sharing part of my daily time with my Jesus with you , I hope & pray this will ignite you to pursue HIM yourself all the more!   -That you realize how easy it can be for you to let God’s Word…His Voice…His Holy Spirit…speak DIRECTLY TO YOU! Challenge: Read…then you take the steps to begin your own time at Jesus feet in His Word!

“SOAP“:  S – Scripture; O – Observation; A – Application; P – Prayer

THE MAIN CHARACTER

S – John 1:8 -”He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”

O -John Knew he was not “it”.  He knew his role life was to point to “it” (THE Light: Jesus).  From day one – whenever that was …-and i wish we had even more background on John B..  When did he realize “This is my role & goal?”;  How did he get started? – Then again, he is only a sub plot pointing to a main character, so why spend a lot of time on him?!  …whenever that was, he pointed to The Light.

A -When i awaken to my role as being a witness to The Light, everything changes!  I am NOT the Main Character!  Though God designed me and created me as unique and special, i am in the story for His pleasure and purposes.  He can write my out as a principle character (ie. John B., Peter, Paul, David, Moses, etc…) or i may be a minor character (the Centurion, the leper(s), the demoniac (ugh!), or the blind man) …or i may not even get a footnote.  Earth shattering as it may sound – that is not important!  I am here for whatever role He chooses!  The magnitude of which the world recognizes me is not what gives me value!  The fact that my Father claims me and allows me to point to The Light is of eternal value!  My role, goal & purpose is to point people to my Jesus – The Light!

-Can i let go of my tempoiral aspirations for personal gain long enough to let that happen?

-Can i sacrifice the idols i have built to myself (…& what are my idols?), and burn them that it might draw light pointing to Jesus?

P - Father, Thank You for placing insight from Your Word on my heart and soul!  Thank you for including me in Your story of redemption!  Even if all it reads in Your story book of Eternity: “Nice but naive, people pleasing, peer pressured teen trusted my Son, Jesus Christ, as Savior of his life. Even so, through bad choices and a self righteous attitude he hurt people during his lifetime.  He served Me in life and ministry …too much of that was spent serving his own ego.  Over time he pointed a few people to The Light of life – Jesus.  He was entrusted with a beautiful bride & three of My most precious creations – his daughters …did “ok” telling them about me (I still love how the witch in “Snow White” was what led Maegan to Me …but that’s in Jen’s story). I give him this; he dreamed about what could and should be for My Glory …and “tried” to live it out.  He came home to be with me on ___.  I Love him!”

-Father, if all i get written about me in Your book are those last three words (I Love him!),  i’m overwhelmed and so thankful!  But God, this side of heaven, i want you to be proud of me!  Sometimes i “feel” as though there is no way you could be.  Please change me …wreck me… mold me …move me … Fill me with your Holy Spirit!  I Love you and need you, My Jesus!

Oswald Chambers – January 22 – “…The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere... Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God. Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him..”

LASER FOCUS – John 1:7

Warning: this blog series may  mess you up! 1.) i have an “agenda”…and it is fully to equip and challenge YOU to spend Life Transforming time with Jesus daily (see the original blog: GOD TIME – The Beginning). 2.) any pedestal you might have placed me on  (crazy…but some people do that with a “pastor”)  will be kicked out after reading these.   Why?  Because I am a messed up wretched sinner… pursuing a radical Savior -  JESUS!

By sharing part of my daily time with my Jesus with you , I hope & pray this will ignite you to pursue HIM yourself all the more!   -That you realize how easy it can be for you to let God’s Word…His Voice…His Holy Spirit…speak DIRECTLY TO YOU! Challenge: Read…then you take the steps to begin your own time at Jesus feet in His Word!

“SOAP“:  S – Scripture; O – Observation; A – Application; P – Prayer

S – John 1:7 - “He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.“

O – John B.’s one purpose in life had nothing to do with position or possessions.  His sole existence was to tell of Jesus so that all might believe.  With laser like focus, he fixed his 1 year, his 5 year, his 10 year…his eternal goal …as “JESUS”.  As long as he would have breath, God would have his voice.

A - Whew! What power in purpose: That God would so consume me that i would i would be fully consumed with Him -  His purposes and ways!  Even as a pastor (ha! – it almost makes it harder …so much “religious busyness”!), that i would live with such laser like focus that nothing would pull me off course with the enormous/vital task of leading everyone humanly possible to know my Savior & Lord. I have so far to go!

P – Father, i need so much help staying on task.  I feel like I’m back in elementary school (Starke Elementary) and Ms. Danglese is yelling at me saying “Immature!  That’s Immature Charles Gordon!  Pay Attention!!!”  My A.D.D. self (self diagnosed but 100% accurate – ha!) so wants to stay focused on YOU Alone!  -To have the tenacity of John B. to glorify you …that my life goal, my family goal, my ministry goal would all conclude “so that through him all men might believe.“  I need you my Jesus!

Oswald Chambers – January 21 – “Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? Does everything in my life fill His heart with gladness, or do I constantly complain because things don’t seem to be going my way? A person who has forgotten what God treasures will not be filled with joy. …Am I so in love with Him that I take no thought for where He might lead me? Or am I watching to see how much respect I get as I measure how much service I should give Him?“

Greenbrier & HAITI

As i relayed yesterday in our services, with the current crisis in Haiti, we are asking our church to:

1. Be praying for those who are in Haiti…and our Jesus-response. That this tragedy would lead to countless lives trusting Jesus …and that we will be obedient to step out as He leads!

2. Consider assisting a ministry that is providing medical care & needed supplies.  Currently, we are accepting donations that we are giving directly to “Samaritans Purse” as they are already on the ground now being Jesus in this crisis.

3. Pray about “GOING” with us and serving in Haiti.  We are researching possible roads of TAKING A TEAM from Greenbrier to Haiti…”Going” and serving, in whatever way we can.  As soon as our leads solidify, i will let you know.  AS YOU PRAY…if God is even impressing on you the possibility of going,  i strongly encourage you to get your passport application rolling TODAY: (it takes 4-6 weeks “regular” processing time   -OR-   2-3 weeks “expedited” processing).

Go to the U.S Passport Web site to download an application or find out more information – OR – call the Post Office in Evans to get an appointment and the ball rolling.

**If you stall on this, you will let the “lack-of” passport make your decision for you.

Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief  Update:

• The US government is strongly encouraging all untrained / non-credentialed volunteer groups to NOT self-deploy.  There is no infrastructure in place to accommodate volunteer groups.  Transportation and communication is still halted.

• The top priority at this time (per the Haitian government and the US state department) is medical evacuation and establishment of infrastructure.  Therefore, it is going to be a considerable amount of time before trained volunteer groups are going to be ready to enter the country; much-less untrained and inexperienced groups.

• This disaster has been likened to “911″ and Katrina rolled into one.
  - 3 million people living in Port Au Prince
  - estimated 100,000 dead already
  - food and water are being quickly depleted
  - violence is on the rise
  - bodies are being loaded onto tractors to be buried wherever possible
  - 10,000 vehicles at one border crossing trying to get in from Dominican Republic
  

• PRAY / PRAY / PRAY!!!