With Thanksgiving this week, I thought this article would be appropriate...

 ...There are many “catch phrases” that circulate through Christendom...sometimes they have great meaning and other times not so much.  One such phrase is, “It is not about me” but reality tells us that most of what we do is about us and it is for us.  Max Lucado in his book with the same title as the phrase It Is Not About Me is attempting to help us see that whatever we do should be done for the glory of God.  Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NKJV) “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Whatever we do we should be doing for God’s glory and because we are thankful but all too many times “me” gets in the way.

Lucado says, “Our society is not wired for this kind of thinking. It’s a “me-centric” world out there, which destroys much of what should be good. Marriages are ruined because one or both partners are focused on their own happiness. Successful men and women are ruined by their own success, believing they don’t need anyone else’s input. And for some, life’s troubles are magnified because they believe life is all about them.”  The Gospel of Jesus Christ seems to be completely backward to our self-centered lifestyle here in the United States of America. Mark 8:34-36 (NKJV) "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? We are taught to believe that we have the right or entitlement to have what we want when we want it. We simply are not thankful for what we have.

I have said for years that God is not so much interested in our happiness as He is our holiness. He wants us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, follow Him and, of course, be thankful. This seems so difficult when we are so comfortable taking care of number one. Lucado says, “Our comfort is not God’s priority. If it is, something has gone awry. If we are the marquee event, how do we explain flat-earth challenges like death, disease, slumping economies, or rumbling earthquakes? If God exists to please us, then shouldn’t we always be pleased?” The truth is that God does not exist to make a big deal out of us but we should exist to make a big deal out of Him.  It is not about you and for a certainty it is not about me, it is all about Him.  Psalm 34:3 (NKJV) “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.” Let us give thanks to the Lord!

Today we welcome La Vida Church to celebrate with us One Church, One Family...

  ...This is always such an exciting time of unity. Mark 6:35-37 (NKJV) “When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat." But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat." I want share with you three sure ways to fail, and all you have to do is emulate the disciples in this situation. This story is repeated in all four of the Gospels and must have been so important to Holy Spirit as He moved on these disciples to record it. How can we, like the disciples, fail?

1. To fail we need to see the impossibility of the situation. We must admit that feeding 5000 men plus women and children with five loaves and two fish is an impossible task. Most scholars believe there were between 15,000 to 20,000 people. We can simply choose to fail because nothing can be done to fix it...it is beyond us. Humanly impossible. You keep concentrating on how big your problem is and you are assured of failure! Keep magnifying what cannot be done and you will surely fail. Just send them away.

2. To fail we need to look at our limited resources and know it is impossible. Who can argue with the disciples about the fact (5 loaves and 2 fish) are so little among so much need...A Year’s wage could not feed so many people...No Wal-Mart! No Hungry Howie! Who could possibly fault you not being able to succeed with such meager resources...why try when you do not have sufficient supply? Focus on your own little resources and I assure you that you will fail.

3. To fail we need to ignore the fact that Jesus is with us to work miracles. Had the disciples already forgotten the miracles Jesus had already done in their presence? Couldn’t the One Who healed the man at the pool, delivered a demon possessed man, had power over the wind and waves of the sea, couldn’t He handle this problem. Are we going to ignore the fact that with God all things are possible? Mark 9:23 (NKJV) “Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." If you want to fail...Ignore the fact that Jesus is with you, He is for you, and He is in you! Key - The disciples wanted to start with much and end with little but Jesus wanted them to start with little and end with much. God wants us to end better than we started...He wants us to witness Him multiplying His life, His resources, and His love each time we face what appears to be an insurmountable situation.

We continue the series “Courage” today...

 ... 2 Samuel 23:20-21 (NLT2) “There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it. Once, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.” With God we can defy the odds. 

1. Odd Things About Odds. I am just guessing Benaiah was a two to one underdog when he fought two Moabite champions (warriors). The odds makers would never have given Benaiah a chance against the Egyptian warrior (giant). To start with, the giant had a spear and Benaiah only had a club. For me, a spear wins every time. Let’s not forget about the lion in a pit on a snowy day. I personally would not want to be in a pit with a lion on any kind of day with or without a weapon. A recipe for disaster.

2. Defying the Odds. Benaiah did what lion chasers do. He defied the odds. He didn’t avoid the situation just because the odds were against him. Lion chasers know God is bigger and more powerful than any problem they face in the world. Batterson – “Lion chasers thrive in the toughest circumstances because they know that impossible odds set the stage for amazing miracles. That is how God reveals His glory—and how He blesses you in ways you never could have imagined.” There is a pattern that is repeated throughout Scripture: Sometimes God won’t intervene until something is humanly impossible. And He usually does it just in the nick of time.Mark 10:27 (NKJV) ^“But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."

3. Little is Much When God is in it. What do you mean? Think about God’s military strategy in Judge’s 7. Gideon has an army of 32,000 and is terribly outnumbered by the Midianites. God begins to shrink Gideon’s army to 10,000, and then 300. So how big is this army that Gideon and the 300 are going against? Judges 7:12 (NKJV) “as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.” Impossible odds but little is much when God is in it. The odds had to be at least a million to one but that does not matter when God gets involved. You know the rest of the story. Gideon wins. No, God wins! Romans 8:31-32 (NKJV) “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

Again today we continue the series “Courage”...

...2 Samuel 23:20-23 (NLT2) “There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it. Once, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.” There are two types of regret. Regrets of action and regrets of inaction. You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Those who simply run away from sin are only half Christians. We are not just called to run away from evil but our calling is to chase lions. 

1. No Guts, No Glory. When we don’t have the guts to step out in faith and chase lions, God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him. Matthew 10:16 (NKJV) "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” What we fail to see is that these lion chasers are ordinary people like us. What sets lion chasers apart isn’t the outcome. It’s the courage to chase God sized dreams. Lion chasers don’t let their fears or doubts keep them from doing what God has called them to do.

2. Successful Lion Chasers. Mark Batterson has a simple definition of success. He says do the best you can with what you have where you are. Batterson – “Spiritual maturity is seeing and seizing God ordained opportunities. Think of every opportunity as God’s gift to you. What you do with those opportunities is your gift to God. I’m absolutely convinced that our greatest regrets in life will be missed opportunities.” Benaniah went on to have a brilliant military career. It started by what many would consider him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Benaniah was faced with a choice that would determine his destiny. Fight or flight?

3. Our Snowy Pit. I don’t pretend to know what is going on in every life represented here today but I am very convinced that all of us have had to face a few lions in our lives. Maybe you are facing one now. I don’t know the depth of you pit or how cold your heart is right now. What I do know is that there is a God Who was with Benaniah in the pit and He will be with you in your pit if you will only acknowledge Him. However deep your pit is, however fierce your lion is, you serve a God Who is all powerful who can deliver you from the paw of the lion. Psalm 40:1-2 (NCV) “I waited patiently for the LORD. He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of destruction.” God is not finished with you yet. Wait patiently for Him.