Everybody loves Jesus, right? I've never ever had a conversation with anyone who thought he was a jerk. He healed people, loved people, and cared for the outcast. He died a horrible death because he believed that he could save our souls. Even if someone doesn't believe the story at all, you can't not like Jesus. 

So what's the problem? The problem is a lot of people love Jesus, they just don't want to follow Him, and they're not interested in Him. Why is that? It's because they're not getting Jesus represented to them well. Jesus loves us and He died for us, but for a few weeks, I'd like to look at the side of Jesus that should make the church pause and pay attention, ANGRY JESUS.

Just to be clear, anger is not a sin. Paul said, “In your anger do not sin.” And Jesus, that everybody loves, one time made a whip, went into the temple, and drove out the money changers and overturned tables. This Jesus told people it would be better for them to have a rope tied around their neck with a two-ton rock attached and thrown into the sea. This Jesus called people names like “brood of vipers”, “unmarked graves”, and “sons of hell”.

Jesus definitely said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” He said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. I am gentle and humble in heart." I think the world's idea that Jesus was nice is correct, so what do you do with “you snakes”, “you brood of vipers” and “how will you escape being condemned to hell”? This is Jesus too. Sometimes Jesus' words were sharp and biting.

When the son of God gets mad, we should pay attention because we can learn a lot about a person from the things they don't like. So, who was He mad at? Well, that's the kicker. I always knew Jesus was mad at the Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law. Then one day I realized the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the teachers of the law were the church leaders of their day, and Jesus was a part of that church. As a matter of fact, this was the church that God set up. They were the people appointed by God for the purpose of enacting God's system of religion. 

When that realization hit me like a ton of bricks, I began to wonder if there was anything that caused Jesus to be mad at His church back in the day, that might be my issue as a current church leader. I discovered four basic attitudes that were the problem: legalism, judgmentalism, hypocrisy, and indifference to suffering. Those were the four things that flipped Jesus’ switch. In fact, we still have problems with those things today. 

The bigger “aha” moment for me was when I realized WHY those bad attitudes made Jesus angry. In every scriptural instance where Jesus expressed anger, the people who claimed to be religious and followers of God gave “love” a bad name through legalism, hypocrisy, judgmentalism, or indifference to need. When our religious attitudes get in the way of God's love, this makes Jesus mad. And, as I’ve pointed my finger at the Pharisees and Sadduccees, I’ve had three fingers pointing back at me. Search us oh God.

The real tragedy about this propensity that we have to drift from God's heart of love is what it does to those on the outside who are not part of the active church and may not consider themselves followers of Jesus. Jesus was mad at the people on the inside of the religious groups who were blocking the way for those on the outside to come into God’s presence. All Jesus ever wanted was for people to be reconciled to God the Father who loves each one. Jesus died so ALL could have access to God. He paid the ultimate price and it is an affront to Him when we, as His church, do not represent love well and push people away from God’s loving presence after Jesus paid such a price to provide for that access. 

Does that change things? Jesus' anger in the story of the temple took place in the gentile court and was directed at the religious people who were denying access to the gentiles who wanted to worship God. Those who already felt furthest from the Father, who were suffering the most, were being robbed not only of their hard-earned money, but of their access to God. It made Jesus angry because access to God is what He came to provide. This was something Jesus felt deeply passionate about. Jesus will throw tables, or animals, or people out of the way to get you access to the Father because He gave up His life to get us full, unhindered access. God wants us in. He's calling us in. He's never going to stand by and let anyone, or anything, keep any of us out. He came to reunite the lost children with their Father.

I realized at some point that Jesus was mad at the Pharisees, but the Pharisees were doing what they thought they were supposed to be doing. If I'm holding any of those same attitudes in my heart, if the current church is functioning in any of those same attitudes, we're guilty of the things that made Jesus angry. We will unpack this further in the coming weeks. I hope you will join us as we learn what makes Jesus mad and turn to those things that please Him.

Do you feel like you’re in the middle - emotionally, financially, relationally? Your situation is better than it used to be, but you’re not where you know you’re supposed to be. 

In James 1:2-4, James tells us “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience haveits perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

For some background, the book ofJames is one of the oldest New Testament writings. James was a prayer warrior. He was also known as “Camel Knees” because his knees showed evidence of much time in prayer. He died a martyr. He was pushed from a building but didn’t die, so was beaten to death. He prayed the whole time he was being beaten. Most significantly, he was Jesus’ half-brother. Even though he grew up with Jesus, he questioned the idea of Jesus being the messiah until after he had seen miracles and the resurrection. In his book, he never refers to Jesus as his brother, but as Lord and Savior. I believe his words carry some weight.

James starts this passage with “count it all joy when”.WHEN. NotIF. We are going to face trials and they will come in all different types. Don’t be surprised when they come. It’s good to note that James is writing to converted and Jewish Christian’s who have been dispersed because of persecution. But he tells them to count it all joy!

Trials are part of life but, we tend to ask “why” when we’re going through trials.  Know this, your trial could be divine. God is not trying to take you out. He has a purpose. The goal is not to quit in the trial but to go through it. Trials are different from temptation. Temptation lures you away from faith. Divinely purposed trials are like gold in a fire. The impurities rise to the top and the dross is skimmed off…and then the gold is put back in the fire. Trials perfect our faith.

In trials we look for when it’s going to stop. We wait for God to intervene. We say “When” but James says to say “Win”. Stay with it. Go through it. Get the victory. Realize the truth that we are more than conquerors through Him. What are we winning - God’s purpose for our life fulfilled. 

How do we get through the trial? We have a choice. When you’re being hit from all sides, count it all joy. Joy is different from happiness. Joy conditions and sets the environment. Joy is the unrelenting thankful trust in God in spite of circumstances.Have feelings but don’t let feelings have you. Working on your mind, what you listen to and watch, helps you command the feelings. Don’t go by what you see. Go by faith in God. Faith is stepping out when you’re not sure, knowing God’s got you.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. The trial of the cross was on the way to the benefit. There is something waiting on the other side of your trial. The devil will work to convince you that God is not a good father and will lie to you regarding your situation. And, enduring with joy does not mean we won’t experience pain. But in joy, we will have hope and purposethrough the process. Joy yields patience. Trial produces active endurance, like a runner finishing a marathon, one step at a time. If we deal with trials opposite of faith we can become bitter, fearful, and full of doubt. It limits creativity. God is producing something in you so count it all joy, no matter what it feels like. God is more concerned with your character than your comfort. 

Set your mind and let God produce what He wants for your life. Faith is tested by trials so understand, faith is already there. All you need is alreadyin you. You are tested to reach your potential. Let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Perfect doesn’t mean without flaws but finished rightly and with better maturity, matured to the reflection and nature of its purpose, God’s will for your life. Trust that God’s got something in mind for you. 

When is faith at its finest? Is it a good church service or a much needed miracle? Is it answered prayer or when everything falls into place? No. It’s in the middle of the deepest and darkest times. Think of the three in the fiery furnace, joined by a fourth. Think of David with Goliath declaring “Who are you compared to my God?”  Think of the thief on the cross saying “I believe!” and was with Christ that same day in paradise. It was Jesus on the cross, proclaiming “It is finished”. In the middle of the trial, faith is at its finest. The trial is working for you. It is producing everything needed to bring God glory. Don’t listen to the enemy. He’ll make it someone else’s fault. He does not want you to produce and bring what you have to the world. He wants you to stop in the middle. But faith is at it’s finest, not when everything is right, not when everything feels good but in the midnight hour when God turns it around and you win. 

You’re going to have trials. Are you going to complain? Retaliate? Give up? Count it all joy.  The question to ask is “Where am I going to grow through this?” Don’t get stuck in the middle. Maybe you’re in the trial because your faith needs to be perfected.If you will furnish the faith, God will furnish the finish. Trust Him. Don’t quit. And watch how He will bring about your victory.

Today, I want to talk about pride. A message on pride, for purposes of actual change in people’s lives, is a frustrating topic because the people who need to hear it don’t think it’s for them.

I want to challenge you as you read this article to be open to considering that you have a little bit of pride. Keep in mind that if you’re not open to receiving this message you probably need to hear it.

Most of us don’t typically see pride as a real sin. But God detests pride (Proverbs 16:5). No one wants God to look at us like we’re detestable! But, we tend to dismiss pride as a sin. For a different perspective, what if I was talking about lust and I admitted to checking people out. Your response would be “that’s gross” and you wouldn’t want to hear from me anymore. Pride is just as bad. 

Pride is not necessarily ego. Pride is tricky and can manifest by drawing attention to yourself by appearing pathetic. The end result is you are still after people’s attention for yourself. Our job is to put all attention on God. We want to show off who He is. Are you worried about what people are thinking about you all the time? You may be struggling with pride. 

Pride is a pervasive matter. No one wants to admit to it. Honestly, it’s easier for me to admit to it when I’m writing a message about it. Pride is usually why we get our feelings hurt and why we feel rejection. Pride is the reason we can’t admit to making a mistake. Pride causes us to take ourselves a little too seriously. We will resent criticism if we are prideful. Insecurity is a result of pride because we are seeking for others to notice and praise us. Pride causes us to see ourselves as overly important or more special to God than others. Pride will make us want to blame others for our problems.

Mark 7:21-23 gives us a list of things that defile us including pride. 

“For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

So how do we become humble? How do we develop a humble attitude? Humility is not a look. It’s not the way we dress or what we drive. Humility is not about letting people walk all over you. Humility is knowing that God is our source - that all we have comes from God. We’re created to bring glory to God. So often we want to draw attention to ourselves but we need to focus on and bring focus to God.

Humility of all the virtues is the hardest one to gain and maintain because we all want to be first and we want to be noticed and we want to be important. But, we must have everything in Christ and nothing in ourselves. I don’t deserve all God has allowed me to do and be a part of in the natural, but God can do anything with anybody who stays humble before Him.

When I started, I had a big vision with little reality. I kept pressing toward that vision and God, in His faithfulness, taught me humility along that way. I was insecure and wanted to be great and important, but I had to get rid of that attitude. It's humble people God can help. He opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.

We are to have the same attitude as Christ. He is our example of humility. He came from heaven and took on a human body. He never defended himself. His depth of humility is unfathomable. He loved everyone even while He was mistreated. Instead of focusing on Himself in those moments, He was thinking about what those who were persecuting Him were doing to themselves. Those who mistreat you don’t know what they’re doing. He prayed for them! Jesus forgave them. He loved them. 

Humility treats everyone with care and love no matter who they are. Pride is boastful and high minded, thinking of yourself more highly than you should. We don’t have to think of ourselves as below others, but just not more highly than others. Have a servant’s attitude. Judging and criticizing others is the fruit of pride. One of the most important things that reveals our level of pride or humility is how we treat other people, especially people that we or the world might deem as unimportant. 

If you’re going to be in authority, you need to know how to be under authority. You need to learn how to be under authority without complaining and gossiping, even in the privacy of your home. It’s the words you’re putting out there that are the problem. Zip your lip. Use a glue stick instead of chapstick! When you are going through tough times that make you want to complain and be vengeful, remember, often the things that hurt you the most will teach you the most.

Are you in a dark place? God will give you treasures out of this if you submit to Him in the process. Pray for God to do what He wants with you. But be ready. Like a puzzle that has a lot of plain blue or green pieces, one by one as the pieces come together, the big picture will emerge over time as God does a good work in you. We’re each called to do something. God wants to use you. But it will only be under the condition of humility.

How often are we dealing with pride and don’t know it? It's a priority and imperative that you get your heart in the right place, and know who you are in Christ. God is not impressed by the positions we hold, but is drawn to our love, our hunger and our thirst for Him. After seeking His righteousness first, are we pure in heart? How are we treating other people that the world thinks are unimportant? Let’s work at getting ourselves off of our own mind. Look for those who are hurting. Work to bless and encourage someone else. 

Pray and ask God to show you every time you’re in pride. “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us” (Romans 12:3 NLT).

I have been in a series of messages namedPray More. We’ve talked about praying with confidence, the tabernacle model for prayer, and praying with persistence. Today, my message is about dynamic prayer and I am using the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13.

Jesus’ disciples were not foreign to prayer but even they struggled with prayer. Luke 11:1 records them asking Jesus to show them how to pray. I find it interesting that, after all they had seen Him do, the thing they specifically asked Him to teach them was how to pray. This tells us there was something special about how He prayed. 

Jesus unpacked this dynamic prayer for them. Prayer should not be ritualistic (bland). Prayer is about a loving relationship (dynamic). When I think of ritualistic prayer, someone praying in King James English comes to mind, or an expectation of rewards based on a point system. I think of feeling guilty if I don’t pray enough or handing God a list of wants. Imagine, if I woke up each morning, leaned over to Christine, and proceeded to list all the things I needed her to do that day. I would get a whole different reaction than if I wake up, lean over and tell her how much I love and appreciate her. The disciples knew ritual prayers, but Jesus knew Father God personally, He had a relationship with Him. God wants to give you answers and impart power to you. He wants to intimately share truth with you. Dynamic prayer is personal

1. Start with God’s Personhood - His name (Our Father) and His address (in Heaven). We don’t just throw something out there hoping someone catches it. It’s a dialogue, talking to Him and listening to what He is saying. Jesus' secret was that He was talking to his father. Why does this matter? We can’t get closer to God than our concept of Him allows. In my case, I thought God was looking for what I did wrong all the time. I was always begging for forgiveness. Settle in your heart that He loves you. He is not annoyed when you approach Him. He instinctively adores you. You are precious to Him. When you’re aware of this, it’s easy to enter into prayer.
2. Seek God's Presence (Hallowed be your name). To hallow means to honor. This is a reminder that you are addressing the One who rules and reigns. His name is holy, sacred and to be respected. Jesus Christ is not a curse word. He was the One crucified for you. When you do this, you are worshiping and your faith is activated. What is your focus? Focus on the One with all power, Who knows all, Who has all wisdom and authority. No circumstance you may find yourself in is ever overwhelming to Him. Magnify the Lord during prayer. Focus on Him knowing He is bigger than all your problems. We tend to magnify our problems but worship opens the door to His presence and empowers our prayers. 
3. Shift to God's Priorities (Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven).  We like things our way but to surrender, we have to shift to His way. God’s Kingdom refers to God’s spiritual and eternal reign in our life. Prayer is not God moving toward us, but us moving toward Him, toward His way, toward His will in all aspects of our lives. Lack of prayer says “You’re not invited. I can handle this without You.” It will help to understand that God wants better for you than even what you want for yourself. Do you believe this? If you only knew what He has prepared for you, you wouldn’t want your own way. You would want God's way. Your life, submitted to God, is always better. It is the life you’ve always wanted. 
4. Solicit God's Provision (Give us this day, our daily bread).  When you don’t ask, you make yourself your own provider. Will you worry or will you pray? This is a choice of peace vs. stress. Worry causes poor decision making and strife. But God won’t let you down. If a problem is big enough to worry about, it’s big enough to pray about. Believe God is loving and loves to provide for His children. If you have this mindset, you won’t hesitate to go to Him. God loves caring for His kids. Don’t rob Him of what He loves doing. 
5. Secure God's Pardon (Forgive me as I forgive others). When we sin, the natural response is to hide from God but take your sin to God. His work covers the past, present and future.You are not what you’ve done. You are the righteousness of Christ and no longer a slave to sin. When we go to God with our sin, we are ensuring our closeness with God. Be mindful as you do ask for God to forgive you, that you need to let go of any unforgiveness. Holding resentment will restrict your relationship with God. Read this scripture again, ‘as we have forgiven.’ You are praying,‘God measure out grace to me in the same measure I use.’ God will honor this prayer. Don’t let the worst relationship of your life (the one that hurt you the most or negatively impacted you the most) ruin your best relationship (your relationship with God). When you hold onto resentment that is what happens. When you receive God’s forgiveness, know you have power to forgive others. 
6. Stay in Step with God's Plan(Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil). This is asking God for help when temptation comes, for Him to show you the way out. One of the most important decisions you make every day is who you will take guidance from. Every day, the Holy Spirit and the enemy offer to guide you. When you pray, it is like taking the Holy Spirit’s hand so He can lead you into His direction and protection. Give the Holy Spirit permission to help you step into God's plan for your life. 

By the time to the end of this prayer, you are charged up to declare, “Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever”. This means “let it be so”. There’s certainty because the whole prayer is centered on a person, our Heavenly Father and His authority, holiness, power, wisdom, purpose, provision, forgiveness, and goodness. This whole thing shifts prayer from a rigid requirement to a rewarding relationship. When approached from your relationship with God, prayer is not an obligation. It’s an opportunity to know Him personally. Prayer based in relationship with God is dynamic and our personal prayer is the start of revival in our life, our church, our region and our nation.

Today, I will continue my series about habits. I am introducing habits that we don’t often think of and this week I wanted to talk about the habit of excellence. Excellence is doing the best you can with what you’ve got. The key is to treat what you own and live your life with excellence - make it a lifestyle.

You may have noticed, it is very easy to be a mediocre person. All you have to do is make no extra effort of any kind and drift through life making no difference in the world. But if you will dare to form the habit of being excellent in all that you do, you will be a bright light in the darkness, which is exactly what God has called you to be. God is excellent and we were created in His image. So if we are to reach our full potential in Him, then we also must choose to be excellent. 

Excellence is not perfection. I read somewhere that the pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy, but the pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a waste of time. There’s a big difference. Striving for perfection can make you feel like a failure and actually, procrastination can result from being a perfectionist. Fear of falling below the expectations of people paralyzes progress.Do your best and trust God to do the rest.God wants us to always grow and make progress, but He is never angry with us because we have not yet arrived. 

To be excellent means to do a little more than you might have to do to get by. When we compromise, it means that we do less than we know is right or proper. Go the extra mile, but don’t take on more than you should in order to properly do what you’ve committed to. Making the commitment to be habitually excellent and following through on your commitments will be very rewarding. Pursuing excellence won’t be easy at first, but eventually it will become a habit.

Develop a system to pursue excellence. I suggest making five signs that simply say “excellence” and put them in places where you’ll see them several times a day. I also believe strongly in the power of verbal confession to help you form a new image of yourself. Try saying these things out loud daily, even multiple times a day. “I do what I do with excellence.” Then expand your confession. “I am an excellent person. I do my work with excellence. I take excellent care of myself and all that I own. I treat people excellently. I think excellent thoughts and I speak excellent words.”

The confessions that you make, which may be totally by faith in the beginning, will help you to remember to do things with excellence and also change how you see yourself. Once you see yourself as being excellent, it will not be a struggle to do what you do with excellence.Remember, habits are developed through repetition, so when you form the habit of excellence it will help you break the habit of mediocrity.

We know in our hearts if we are truly doing the best that we can do, if we are giving it our all. If we are not, then we should make a decision to adjust and move toward excellence. Let’s always do our best not just for significance or praise from others or for worldly promotion, but let’s do all that we can do to glorify God and live an excellent life for Him. I believe He will reward us for our excellence.

The excellence lifestyle starts small, right where you are. Put things back where you got them. Return the grocery cart to its spot in the parking lot. Pick up the trash on the floor.Excellence is a lifestyle… and I believe it’s part of a godly lifestyle.

Ask yourself…

• How often do you compromise and take the easy way out?
• Do you keep your commitments?
• Do you drift along in life or are you pressing toward the best?
• Do you always tell the truth?

I could keep adding to that list but I think you get the point that I’m trying to make. We will never get where we want to be unless we truthfully admit where we are right now. Start making the choices and facing the truth and the truth will set you free.

When we are excellent we feel better about ourselves. I found the reward of excellence is peace, peace I receive when I make an effort to do things the way they should be done and don’t compromise to do less than I know is right. 

Actions follow what we think, so we must first become excellent in our thoughts. “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8 NLT). “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7 AMPC). What kind of thoughts do you entertain? When you recognize that your thoughts are not good, do you take action to cast them out of your mind or do you just lazily let them remain? It is impossible to become an excellent person without first developing an excellent mind. Thoughts are the first line of defense and we must deal with them. Our mind and thoughts belong to us and we should not allow the devil to use them as a garbage dump.

Just as we can direct our thoughts, we can also direct our words with God‘s help. The power of life and death are in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Our words affect us and the people around us. They also affect what God is able to do for us. We cannot have a negative mouth and end up with a positive life. The apostle Peter teaches us in I Peter 3:10, that if we want to enjoy life and see good days even in the midst of trials we must keep our tongue free from evil. Change your words and you can change your life.

It’s also important that we treat all people excellently. God loves all people and does not take it kindly when we mistreat them. Be polite, respectful, and appreciative. Be encouraging. Everyone in the world wants to feel valuable and many are struggling with feelings of low self-esteem. We are in a position to be used by God to help them by treating each one with excellence. Be an oasis of love. “But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them all–love]” (1 Corinthians 12:31 AMPC).

Love is the most excellent way of all.

“Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you” (Romans 12:1-2 MSG).

God wants to bring the best out of you and I want to make this statement…so do I. I want to take you on a journey of unlimited possibilities, to bring the best out of you. I believe this begins with you knowing God. Secondly, I believe the journey to bring the best out of you involves settling your yesterdays once and for all. I want you to find freedom and to discover your purpose so you can make a difference in this world. To do this, you need well-formed maturity. 

You don’t have to do the impossible. You just have to do the difficult and God will do the impossible!  If this is to be a year of unlimited possibilities, then you’re going to have to make a decision and create a habit of living a God-first life. Difficult yes, but then watch what God does!

Discover Your Purpose. Life will go better when you keep yourself in alignment with your purpose on this planet. Your life will never make sense and you’ll always have problems in other areas until you align your life around your purpose. Ps 139 says it beautifully, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

We try, don’t we? However, each one of us has added a chapter to our book. And, if you’re like me, probably a few chapters! These are not chapters God wrote for us. Don’t lose hope.When we look to God for alignment, he has this unique ability to make the last chapter fit …no matter how many chapters you may have added in. 

Live by design and not by default. Define it and design it. There is constant competition for our time and attention. Don’t allow other people or situations to decide your life for you. Today you are one day closer to the end of your life than you were yesterday.I’m your friend. I’m not an expert on the subject but I will tell you this, I personally believe we are living in the last days, maybe the last of the last days.There is no room for us to live a casual, no good, who cares kind of life.Today matters.This is the day that the Lord has made. Rejoice! Yesterday‘s over and tomorrow’s not here. Get today in alignment.You’ll really never change your life until you change the things that you do every day, the habits. 

1.  Decide what is important.

A lot of our lives are being defined by what’s important, or urgent. There are a lot of things that we need to do, but they can’t dominate our lives.What are the most important things? “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8 NLT). The only way you’ll ever know if life is really better when you put God first is to go all in and make a decision that you're going to put him first. If you’ve never tried this life, you have missed out on the best.

1. Give calendar time to important things.

It is amazing how many people have values, but they don’t show up on their calendar. If you value it, you give it time and resources. Take time to fill your calendar with those things that are important. Ask for God to teach you in the ways of wisdom.

1.     Make time for renewal. You have got to refresh yourself. You’ve got to have a day where you slow yourself down. I promise you you will get more done in six days by giving one day to God and resting your spirit, soul, and body. 

1.     Make time for relationships. The most important decisions of your life after your decision to serve God is going to be the people that you choose to spend your life with. More on this later! 

1.   Make time for reward. Do something that will bring you heavenly rewards. Someday, you’re going to stand before God and part of my job is to make sure that you’re prepared for that final exam. He won’t have to ask if you belong to Christ. He will know the answer to that question. He will ask how much you leveraged the life that he gave you? It’s really important that you are living your life on purpose and making a difference.

3.   Eliminate the nonessentials.

A lot of us have nonessentials in our life and the secret is to eliminate as many of those things in our life that honestly just don’t belong. Eliminate those things that do not make your life better. Like Hebrew 12 says,let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 NLT). Make a decision to eliminate these things if you want what you want at the end.  

4.   Regularly take inventory.

Where is your life out of alignment? Pray this prayer from Psalm 39, ““Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath” (Psalms 39:4-5 NLT).

Take a moment and get your life back on track. Make sure your life is what it is supposed to be about. Ask the Holy Spirit to point out areas that need to line up. Ask him to show you if you are really ready to meet God. Acknowledge that you need God and that you want to serve him with your whole heart and your whole mind. Ask him to forgive you and to change you. 

If you decide to do what’s needed, prepare for unlimited possibilities. God is amazing and he will do what he has promised. 

Today, I continue with a message on things that made Jesus mad. Anytime there's blocked access to God, it makes Jesus mad. If you haven’t seen my message on Jesus’ temple-tantrum from last week, please go back and read/listen.

So, legalism… I hate it. If you've got a stupid rule, I'm going to want to challenge it. I want to know why the rule is there and if it makes sense! Rules are never going to be able to cover every scenario we could come up with and an effort to try to make rules that do so results in stupid rules. 

Do you realize your behavior, your judgment, your rules, may be keeping people out of Heaven?? Jesus said it this way in Matthew 23:13 (NIV),“Woe to you …You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” Earlier in Matthew 23, Jesus spoke to the crowds and said, “Do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” 

To quote a modern icon, Homer Simpson answered Bart’s question about what religion they were, “You know, the one with all the well-meaning rules that don't work out in real life... Christianity.” What happens if Homer's statement is true? Well-meaning rules that don't work in real life create a huge unnecessary barrier and this makes Jesus mad.

So, do we not need rules? Of course, we need rules. I know we need rules. I know society needs governance. God gave us rules because He loves us. That's the difference. He loves us so He gave us rules. Think about the Ten Commandments for a second. They're all for our benefit. They provide a foundation for a relationship with our loving Father and for our general well-being, individually and socially. Here's the thing, the problem is whenour interpretation of the laws of God hinder people getting to God. At that point they are our laws and our rules. If we don't understand God’s laws but we’re expecting others to follow those interpretations, it creates a barrier for people to get to God. This makes Jesus mad.

In Mark 3:1-6, Jesus decided that it was time for the Pharisees to learn a lesson about forcing people to go through well-meaning rules that don't work in real life. And so, He broke one of them. “Once again Jesus entered the synagogue, and a man with a withered hand was there. In order to accuse Jesus, they were watching to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. Then Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand up among us.’ And He asked them, ‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?’ But they were silent. Jesus looked around at them with anger and sorrow at their hardness of heart. Then He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ So he stretched it out, and it was restored. At this, the Pharisees went out and began plotting with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”

The Pharisees, the religious ones, the church leaders literally started plotting how to KILL JESUS in response to this miracle. What was Jesus mad about? He was mad about the hardness of their hearts. They were so caught up in their own religious beliefs, they couldn’t see THE NEED of the man!!! He was mad about the fact that they were blocking the Kingdom of God. When Jesus did miracles on the Sabbath, He did them purposefully.  He was trying to tell us to look at the need, not the law.  He was trying to tell us to look at the person, not our own idea of religion.

What did the crowd think? The crowd thought Jesus was awesome. The outsiders loved Jesus, but he made the church uncomfortable. I sure hope that you have met the real Jesus. And I hope, as Christians, we can introduce the real Jesus to those who are outside the church. At the very least, I hope that we can understand that Jesus didn't come to show us how to follow the rules. Jesus came to fulfill the rules, to complete their purpose, in love.

The church is not comfortable with Jesus turning to a thief being executed on the cross, and saying, "Oh, you want to go? Yeah, sure. Come on." Paul said it in Gal 5:6 (NIV), “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” That's what matters. It’s not which one of these rules you're getting all right. Jesus was more interested in doing good than following rules. And Paul said, "Yeah, exactly."

There's something inside all of us that feels safer when we know we’re playing within the rules of the game. Steve Brown wrote inA Scandalous Freedom, "But the good news is that Christ freed us from the need to obnoxiously focus on our goodness, and our commitment, and our correctness. But religion has made us obsessive almost beyond endurance. Jesus invited us to a dance, and we've turned it into a march of soldiers, always checking to see if we're doing it right, and if we're in step and in line with the other soldiers. We know a dance would be more fun, but we believe we must go through Hell to get to Heaven, so we just keep marching."

Man, this feels dangerous. Maybe it's time to understand what grace is really about. Grace is dangerous. Does that mean God doesn't care how we live? No, of course not. He wants what's best for us. The difference is the order of the scandalous response that Jesus gave the woman caught in the act of adultery: 1) Neither do I condemn you. 2) Now I want you to have a better life. Grace, then truth. I love you and here is what’s best for you.

What traditions have you turned into legalism, rules, judgment?? What are you doing that may be keeping others from seeing the redeeming love and grace of Christ in your life? Are you so self righteous that others can’t see His love through you? God, help us. Let’s partner with God in getting those who are outside connected with Him.

This will be a year of unlimited possibility. Declare it with me!

Right here at the beginning of this new year, let’s consider our habits.Weare what werepeatedly do. If you haven’t read my book,Make That, Break That, this would be a great time to get a copy!

I desire real change this year, a transformation. In any area of life, if you want to see something new, you’ve got to make a change. The way to live life the way God has for us is challenging; it’s doable but it’s challenging.

For 2023, let’s develop some habits that are intentional and worthwhile. What I want to share with you are God principles. If we apply these principles, they will change our lives. Get rid of excuses that keep you from achieving and seeing the changes you desire and jump in all the way. Let’s do this thing.

For our journey this year (check out my sermon, “Unlimited Possibilities”), you will need hope, hope your marriage can be restored or that your finances can be improved, hope for whatever it is you long for. I have a word for you… “But God.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT) promises, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

In addition to hope, the second thing you need is repentance from the past, a course correction. 

Repentance is not a negative thing. It means to stop going in your current direction, change the way you think, and go the opposite direction, no looking back. Recovery programs sometimes use a tool, “My Life in Five Chapters”. The first four chapters involve no real change, going down the same road, falling into the same hole or nearly falling into it, and taking a long time to get out. But, chapter 5 is the key. Just go down a different street. This is transformation. My goal is to help take you down a whole different path this year. Like Philippians 3:13 says, let’s forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead.

The last thing is to form some new habits. Romans 12:21 says it this way, “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evilby doing good.” The things we put first not only show truths about us, but they have power. Let’s focus on what to do first. 

Put God first. I promise you, if you put God first in your life, it is going to be a completely different year for you. Let me make a strong statement. If God is in your life, but he’snot firstin your life, then he’snot really in your life. He will not take another place on your list if he’s not at the top of it. The first of the 10 Commandments is all about him being first, “Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me” (Exodus 20:1-3 NLT). That little “g” god is really just any love or passion we may hold dear. He does not mind you loving something, but he does mind you loving itmore than him and he will not take another place other than first. Here at the beginning of 2023, I challenge you to develop a habit of putting God first.  

Give God the first of everything. Many preach this as a money principle. It is not just a money principle. Leviticus 27:30 NLT teaches that one tenth of all we have belongs to the Lord, 1/10th of everything. This includes your thoughts and your time. Set apart a tenth of your time and your thoughts and give them to God. The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God in first place in your life (Deuteronomy 14:23 LB). Thank God that our giving feeds the hungry and builds buildings. But that’s not the purpose. Give to God the first of everything you possess.

Consider the following. Give God the first of your year. We are in a time of prayer and fasting at my church during January. We set aside this time to put God first in our year. 

Give God the first of your month. Review your schedule and make sure he is in your schedule. Likewise, don't schedule things that will schedule God out. 

Give God the first of your week. A good example of this is to make sure Sundays are set aside for him. Spend time in God’s presence and skip that additional golf game on Sunday morning or sleeping in. We gather on Sunday to worship God not only because that was the day Jesus was resurrected, but because the early church decided they wanted to celebrate on the first day of the week, putting God first in their week. Take the day to worship and to rest. if you give God this time, you'll be surprised what you get done the remainder of the week. 

Give God the first of your day. Talk to him first thing in the morning before anything else. Give him your first thoughts. Pastor Chris Hodges challenges people to give the first fifteen minutes of the day to God - 5 minutes in the Word, 5 minutes in worship, and 5 minutes in prayer. Do this and then watch God work in your life in amazing ways. 

When I give God the first of my time he multiplies my time. When I give God the first of my finances, he multiplies my finances. I find that the 90% will go further than 100%. When I give God the first of my thoughts, he multiplies my thoughts. Keep a notepad handy. You will want to write them all down!

Give God your first and your best. “Seek his will in all you do, andhe will show you which path to take. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Thenhe will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine” (Proverbs 3:6, 9-10 NLT).

Happy Easter! This is the day we celebrate Jesus conquering death and the grave. During our service today at MCC, we heard an amazing testimony of redemption and restoration, literally a story of a life bound for death and destruction to a life of promise and hope. It reminds me of God's goodness. It makes me crazy about God. I want more of Him. On Easter, there is so much pressure to preach well in hopes that people will love the message and return for more. How do I get this message right today? If I do well, maybe people will come back for Christmas. How do I make Jesus’ torture, crucifixion and death exciting? How do I explain the resurrection which is the most exciting part? All of this is hard for some to believe because they don’t understand. But actually, people believe a lot of things they don’t understand and can’t explain. God wouldn't be a God worth believing in if we understood Him completely. He is a big, amazing God. We just need to ask the right questions.

In considering the message today, I looked to Jesus for answers. The Gospels talk about Jesus and how He spoke to large crowds with lots of visitors and guests. What did He do? I usually try to make things simple and easy but Jesus seemed to make things more confusing. In Luke 8:4-10, He tells the parable of the sower. Keep in mind, people had traveled long distances to see Jesus speak and hopefully perform a miracle. They’d heard about healings and teachings and raising of the dead. So what did Jesus teach this crowd of guests and visitors who were so anxious to hear Him and see Him? He taught them a parable and then closed with the statement, “Anyone who has ears to hear should listen and understand.” His take on his talk that day was,  “If you get it you get it (and if you don’t, you don’t).” Then, He just walked away, dropped the mic, left the stage. The disciples were so curious to know what He was doing. They followed Him and asked about the meaning of the parable later. Jesus explained that the parable was for the seeing who don’t see and the hearing who don’t understand. Parables were not supposed to be easy to understand. He taught parables so the ones who really wanted to understand would go after Him. He was trying to reach those who wanted to search out the truth. He only wanted to speak to the ones who really wanted to hear and learn and understand. Like the farmer in the parable, He wasn’t going to take time to water a beaten down path where seed could not grow. He knew He couldn’t get through to people who couldn’t receive because of the cares in this world. That ground was not ready. Those seeds would wither and their roots wouldn't go deep.He knew that those who wanted God would clear everything else out of their lives in pursuit of learning and understanding what God was saying. The disciples were those people. They were all in. They wanted something different so they did something different. A farmer looks for good soil. This is where he will water.

Jesus knew those seeking truth would come after Him. They were hungry for the truth. Are you hungry for truth? Often, we don’t want to know the truth. In fact, belief systems are often based on desires rather than truth. John 8:32 tells us that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. If we accept the truth, we will be set free. Unfortunately, we want the lie in many cases.

Jesus was tortured, taking on our iniquity in exchange for His healing. He took on the crown of thorns for our thoughts and mental health, and He shed His blood for the remission of our sins. He conquered death and the grave.  Through his death and resurrection, He restored us to God. Jesus’ passion shows us the truth and He did it all for each of us. In fact, He would have done it even if we were the only one who needed it. Before Jesus, people could only approach the temple with an animal sacrifice which did not deal with sin but covered it for a time. Jesus’ death and resurrection restores us to real fellowship with God. We can talk directly to God and be in His presence. The perfect sacrifice was made that paid the price once for all.

There is a story of a famous artist who found his very first painting on display in an antique shop in his hometown. It was dirty and the frame was broken. The painting needed restoration, but it was no longer his to restore.  Even though he was the artist, he couldn’t just walk in and take it. He had to purchase it to restore it and bring it back to its original beauty. Jesus purchased healing and restoration for us. Why did Jesus die on the cross? He did it to bring us forgiveness, new life and hope for the future.

Are you restored? Are you living the life Jesus paid for? Let me use a Detroit Motor City analogy. To be a Christian you have to have Christ in your car. Christian has Christ in it. If you are a Christian and Christ is in your car, where is He sitting? Is He in the trunk? Do you let Him out when you get to church and say “Come on Jesus. Let’s go in to church for religious happy hour? Is He in your back seat? Maybe He is your companion in the front passenger seat? There are some who have given Him the driver's seat. So, if He’s in the driver's seat let me ask you, are you a back seat driver? When He wants to turn down the road of forgiveness or generosity, do you tell Him to turn the other way? When you let Jesus drive, you will see the fruit of His spirit begin to develop in your life - love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. He paid for you to have life and to have it more abundantly. Give Him the driver’s seat. Let Him take you wherever He wants to go. We are Easter Christian’s living in a Good Friday world, but Sunday's coming! Jesus can restore situations in your life. He can make beauty from ash. Do you need to reposition Jesus in your car? Or do you need to ask Jesus to climb into the car for the first time? Take possession of all God has for you today. Clear the way for God to have control in your life. Know the truth and the truth will set you free. Life goes better when you put God first.

Happy Easter!

There is a high value placed on the dying words of a person. If you have been with a loved one as they were ready to pass from this world to the next, you probably remember the last thing they said to you. The value of someone’s dying words is even legally valuable. We have the Apostle Paul’s last words in 2 Timothy. This book is known as the last writings of Paul. It is a pastoral book written to his spiritual son, Timothy. It was written during the time of Nero who was violently against Christians, blaming and killing them for things he did. Paul had been released from prison but was in prison again for preaching and teaching the Christian faith. In filth, in a cistern, his thought was to write a letter to Timothy to challenge and encourage him. Paul knew his next step was his end, his death. It’s important for us to hear the passion and urgency Paul wants to press into Timothy. 

In this time of Nero, Timothy is experiencing cultural pressure and push back. He has shrunk back and become timid. But Paul had clarity. He writes in 2 Timothy 1:3-7 for Timothy to stir up the gift, like a fire. A flame will die into smoke and embers. To stir it up you have to feed it fuel and stir up the embers, moving them around to oxygenate and rekindle. This is a call to rekindle the flame and passion. Stir it up. 

First, to stir up your calling and gift, you have torecognizethat it is already in you. For Timothy, it was partially due to his spiritual legacy from his grandmother and mother. Like Timothy, you may want your circumstances to change, but everything you are called to do is already in you. Your calling and giftings are deposited in you by God. We each have been given a measure of faith. God’s intent and purpose and calling is in you. Circumstances around you may not fit your standards or expectations, but your calling does not rely on anything except what’s in you. 

“Failure has slain its thousands. Distraction it’s tens of thousands.” Distraction is a favorite tool of the enemy. When the pressure comes in, we get spiritual amnesia! But we have everything we need. 

It’s called a calling because it's in you and when people get around you,they call out for it. The need calls out for what’s inside of you. Regardless of your circumstances, what is needed is in you. Maybe you have wisdom to share or a passion to meet a physical need. What is it you cry out to God for? Is it cultural morality? If it bothers you and keeps you up at night, this may be the calling you need to stir up, the thing you are called to. What’s in you that drives you and you can’t even help it? 

It’s not about what you don’t have. It's about what is in you; to deal with the need that’s calling out for you.

And, it is given by God. You may have to develop and awaken, educate yourself and find mentorship for it. But God has placed something significant in you. No matter your age or generation, if you’re breathing, it’s time to do something. Recognize God has placed it in you. 

Then, remember and remind yourself. Visualize and remember. Memory is powerful. It is tied to smells, tastes, emotions, music and more. Use memory to stir up this gift in you. The way you remember is the way you live out your future, successful or unsuccessful, fearful or faithful.  Remember what God has done to you and in you. We all have a story. We have made mistakes and things have been done to us. But some keep remembering their past like it’s their present and expecting it like it’s their future. Remember your purpose not your past pain. Remember when God saved you.Remember the first time God used you and the first time you raised your hands in worship. Remember.When we remember what God has done, we will be invited to believe what God will do. Stop reminding yourself of the pain in the past. Remind yourself of what God says about you and your moments with Him. When was the last time God spoke to you and you believed He was telling you the truth? Invite yourself to believe God again. Stir it up. 

Recognize. Remember. Respond. God has his responsibility. He has given you gifts and a calling and He is faithfully keeping you, sending people to you, providing opportunities for you. But you have a responsibility. Your responsibility is to take action. When the choir and preacher have gone home, can you praise God in the midst of your situation? Can you encourage yourself in the Lord? The way to stir yourself up is to recognize your Source. It’s all about the God who is our source. We simply need to respond to His ability - response ability.Do something. It is not enough just to show up. Stir it up. Do something with your gift. Where can you serve? What can you sow? What needs can you meet? What can you start? Is there somewhere you can join? Find your purpose. Drive into that purpose. What are you doing with the gift God gave you? What are you preaching - to yourself and to others? You are responsible for it. Revival like we have just seen at colleges and universities around the nation is appetite.Be hungry and desperate for what is calling out to you. Stop waiting for circumstances to line up.Paul could have written about his own misery in that prison of death, but he chose to use his last words to call out the gifts in Timothy. He used that opportunity for hope and faith and love, not only for Timothy but for those of us who have received his words since then. 

It’s time to stir up your gift. Culture is not working for us. We have to love them to win them but love is an action. Recognize. Remember. Respond. Sometimes responding is pressing into praise and worship and praying and sharing and believing and giving and searching and forgiving because you know God will show you the next step if you keep doing what you know is right to do. When the spirit saturates the gift in you is when change will occur. Stir it up.

Today is Super Sunday. The Super Bowl is the culmination of what teams aspire to. One of the most important things on a football team is the relationship between the quarterback and the center. This relationship is a delicate balance between trust and intimacy. Their relationship is so intimate, that the center knows the touch of his QB  and understands the message of the pressure in that touch, causing him to know when the quarterback is ready for the play.

Let’s look at this as an analogy to your relationship with Jesus. Is Jesus your center? One NFL quarterback actually moved his locker closer to his center’s locker. Are you moving closer to your center? Jesus pursues you, but you can choose to move closer to Him and you will be blessed as a result. God makes paths straight for those who lean on Him.

A QB talks to his center more than anyone else. Are you willing to establish trust and share intimate moments with your center? Intimate moments are not always verbal. Are your actions a reflection of your relationship with Jesus? Get your hands dirty and press into Him so you are ready to receive what He’s handing to you?

You practice how you play in football and you play how you have practiced. The same goes for life. You pray the way you live and you live the way you pray. Prayer is that time of intimacy when you can feel your center and you know He is ready to move. As you move in tandem with Jesus, joy and hope are born within your heart. It’s easy to get busy or to go through the motions of prayer. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 commands us “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 

How do you feel? Are you overwhelmed, anxious, stressed, or busy? Move to a posture of prayer. Start with thanksgiving and enter into prayer. Avoid a cursory, quick prayer. Take time and be honest. Tell God the truth. Is your prayer impacting your life? Cast your cares, be intimate with your God, feel how close He is, lean on Him. If you truly believe and are ready to make Jesus your center, you will be ready to receive and will trust Him. 

King David was a great quarterback. He was a man after God’s own heart. He had a lot of godly characteristics because he spent time in worship and prayer. He graduated from being a shepherd to becoming the king of a unified Israel, but he had a lot of trial, tribulation and time before he realized the vision God had given him of being king. Be willing to trust and wait on your center. 

Can you serve like David did? He served Saul and honored him without exception, even though he knew God had called him to be king and even though Saul repeatedly tried to kill him. Serve faithfully. Be confident in knowing God will give you victory over your enemy and will place you in your intended destiny.

An additional analogy that becomes apparent on Super Sunday is the power of team. Have you ever wanted to give up? Have you ever felt all alone? A quarterback can’t do what he must do alone. He needs the offensive line to block during a play. Otherwise, there will be no success. If you are not a football fan, think of another sport - maybe swimming. It’s a seemingly individual sport but you still have coaches and trainers who work to make you the best you can be. You still have a support group in swimming.

We are created for community and we need a team to speak truth to us and to be there for us to support and encourage. Proverbs 11:14 says it like this, “Where there is no [wise, intelligent] guidance, the people fall [and go off course like a ship without a helm], but in the abundance of [wise and godly] counselors there is victory.”God is first and foremost your captain. He is your most important relationship. But as you seek God’s counsel, He will bring godly counsel to you.

The enemy would love to keep us isolated, alone in our thoughts and doubts. Seek God, get counsel from others but be careful who you let speak into your life. As you link up with others,  the enemy can't pull you off your course. As you find your team, take time to pour into them and pray for them. As you have their back, they will have yours. It’s a two way street. Don’t do life alone. Find your team.

The Super Bowl is an annual event that is celebrated all over the world. In Dr. Dave Martin’s book,Another Shot,he writes about determination. The teams today have determination to win the title, the championship. They are contending. Jude 1:3 tells us to contend (struggle, wrestle) for the faith, a prize much more important than a trophy. We need determination and we need to contend because we wrestle against powers and principalities, against spiritual wickedness.

Today we will witness blood, sweat and tears, a clashing of the clans, but they are equipped properly. We need to be equipped too, otherwise we won't do well with the collisions we face. We need the armor of God described in Ephesians 6:14-17 - salvation, righteousness, faith, the Word of God - all through Jesus. 

In the end, there can only be one winner. Don't worry about your circumstances and the unfavorable things you face because you will win. 2 Corinthians 2:14 reminds us that God always causes us to triumph. We triumph over sickness, over depression, over relationship and job issues, over all that would come against us. We triumph through Christ. Our struggles are part of the plan and process but in the end, we win.

Press in. Love God and lean on Him. Love people and find your team. Get equipped. You are a winner.

Today, I want to talk to you about trusting the process. Do you have kids? Things change rapidly with kids. Sometimes it feels like you are in a place where nothing will ever change. You have a two year old that throws a fit about everything. But give it two weeks. Things will change. Maybe you have an eight year old who is so enjoyably pleasant and cooperative. But…give it two weeks! Things WILL change. Life can be crazy. Sometimes we fight the process. We kick against the goads I’ve heard it said. But we need to trust the process. 

Trust is being able to have a sense of security and confidence when dealing with someone. For instance, I trust the team I work with. We’ve built trust together. We’ve supported each other and helped each other; we’ve prayed for each other and celebrated together. We’ve learned together and we are growing together.Trust is built by having the ability to predict that someone will act in a specific way and be dependable. When you have walked through life together, you learn what to expect from those you are walking through life with. 

As a young father, I have seen my two year old take a flying leap off his changing table, fully confident I will catch him. However, my eight year old has more experience. She is not as trusting. She wants to fly with all abandon like her little brother, but she will ask me to get closer and closer until she can touch my shoulder and then gently shifts her weight into my arms. Do you believe God is aware enough and strong enough to catch you when you leap? Maybe you hesitate to jump. It takes guts. Are you an entrepreneur? I admire you! Do you believe God will catch you? Maybe you will jump when you can feel God’s hand on you, when you feel God is closer.God will catch you, every time. 

There is a story in Judges 6 about a man named Gideon who began to trust God and then became trustworthy of God. It is a story of Gideon vs the vast army of the Ammonites. Gideon was desperate. The Israelites were on a downward spiral of sin. They would turn their backs on God, begin to sin and would lose the blessings and covering of God. Then they would repent, begin walking again with God, get comfortable in His protection, and then get lax and begin sinning again. In this passage, we find Gideon in this pit, desperate and poverty stricken. An angel shows up and calls him a mighty warrior. He tells Gideon that the Lord is with him! Gideon wasn’t sure he could trust this word because his people were in such dire need. Gideon had to learn to trust the process and do things God’s way. 

You know in your own heart if you trust God. There was a battle in Gideon’s life in addition to the battle with the armies of the Ammonites. Gideon had a battle within. He had to learn to trust God. He tested God but then, God tested him. Gideon amassed an army of 32,000 but God told him to send 22,000 home. God tested Gideon again until Gideon was left with 300. 

Have you ever had a fight, been right, but oh sooooo wrong in the “process”?When we do things on our own, we’re not under the protection of the process.I always have to ask myself two questions when I'm in a fight. Is this worth it? And who will I be at the end of this fight?Gideon’s army won the battle because they did it God’s way. If they had done it in their own strength, they likely would have died, we would not be telling this story, and God would have gotten none of the glory. 

When you trust the process, God’s power moves. God will take you step by step.The first step is to take the first step. A good friend of mine says, “Just start.” As we step out, God’sword is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105).Ask the Lord. He will speak to you. His word is alive and active, working on your behalf. The Word, for those who will work the Word. He will direct you. Confirm things through God and His Word. Trust the process. You know where you are supposed to go. Go to God first. 

A process is a series of actions or changes and if you want your tomorrow to look different from your today, you are going to have to do something today to make your tomorrow different.Take a step in the process. It’s not easy but it’s fruitful. Enjoy the process and endure the process. Romans 5:3-5 describes how it will go, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

I believe many people in the church are here to learn, work on themselves and move past the hurdles that once stopped them from accomplishing all that God has for them. But if you quit the process, you won’t see the end results.Don’t run when things get hard, press in for your future, press in for your breakthrough. Who do you want to be on the other side? God will create you into something new if you trust the process. God is working, speaking and moving. Let His Word work in you. 

Have you ever known someone who transformed themselves physically, began working out and bulked up so they looked like a different person? They have trusted the process. It’s not easy. And it won’t impact everyone the same way. But people who follow the process will get stronger and see their body be able to do things it has not been able to do before. The goal is to be a better version of yourself. The same goes for spiritual growth and strength. As you commit to discipline, to the Word and to relationships with others who can challenge you in your faith, you will become a better version of your spiritual self. In fact, we can use this process of growth and discipline in all we do - marriage, work, parenting, etc.  

Gideon would have lost the battle even with 32,000 men. But God said to trust the process. He said to do it His way. Blow the horn. Crack the pots. Watch the flame, the fire of God. The enemy was so distraught that they killed themselves. Start with worship each day. Incorporate prayer & praise. Read, study and meditate on God’s Word. Get in the Presence of God. Life needs God. It’s never going to be easy. But choose to grow in an upward spiral. Take steps toward God. 

You may not be where you want to be, but if you look back, you’re not the same person that you once were. Take a deep breath and smile, God’s not done with you! It was a process for you to read this today. Maybe someone showed you this blog or told you about Motor City Church. Maybe they prayed for you. Trust the process. Are you stuck? Pray for breakthrough and vision.Dreams are Free!Get full of God. Trust the process. 

We have been in our series called “Make That Break That” talking about habits that we need to develop and habits that we need to get rid of in order to live a year of unlimited possibilities. I would like to consider a habit today that I call “The Happy Habit”. Proverbs 3:13 AMPC says, “Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is the man who finds skillful and godly Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding [drawing it forth from God's Word and life's experiences].”

I believe the desire to be happy is the main thing that motivates us in most of what we do. But do we truly know what makes us genuinely happy? And is happiness just a feeling or is it just an emotion that we search for? I think it’s much deeper than that.

Abraham Lincoln said, “People are as happy as they make up their mind to be.” I like that and I would agree. I am convinced that happiness is a choice and a habit that we can develop. When we make the choice, the feelings will then begin to follow.

The Psalmist David said, “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it”

(Psalms 118:24 NLT). Did you notice it said we will. That is the deciding factor in the enjoyment of our day. If I don’t choose to rejoice, there will always be something to steal my joy and poison my happiness.

It has been said that focusing on good things is the first law of happiness, because what we focus on or what we think about determines our feelings. I’ve said it many times, what you look at the longest becomes the strongest. I am not suggesting that we ignore our problems, but there is a big difference between focusing on them and working on them to solve and resolve them.

Our number one goal, the number one habit we need to develop, is a close, intimate, personal relationship with God through Jesus. Put God first. Being in fellowship with God and learning to obey Him in all things will make you happier than you could ever imagine. Since God is life, how can we hope to enjoy life apart from Him.

I’ve discovered in my search for happiness that my joy is fed by doing things for other people. This is a great secondary goal and a commandment! Love God. Love people. No matter what kind of problems I have, if I focus on what I can do to put a smile on someone else’s face, I find it that makes me happy.

Our personal beliefs can greatly affect our level of joy and happiness. Purposeless people are frequently unhappy as well as people who feel unloved. God loves you and He is for you. He has a plan for your life and a purpose.

I have also found that hopeful people are some of the happiest people in the world. Hope is powerful. Trials test us and refine us. As character is developed within us, we gain the joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. And this hope never disappoints, deludes or shames (Romans 5:3-5 AMPC). People who can remain happy in hope, no matter what their circumstances, are powerful people. 

Are you trusting God in all the areas of your life? Romans 15:13 (AMPC) says, “May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.” Joy and peace are found in believing. What do you believe about yourself? If you believe you are a failure, unloved, worthless, that it is too late for you to have a good life, then you’ve got to change what you believe about you. Believe what God says about you in His word, not what others have told you, or even how you feel. 

Are you putting off happiness until some other time? I’m personally trying to avoid saying, “I will be happy when…” We fall into the trap of thinking we will be happy when… There can be a million “when’s” that keep us from enjoying now. We have got to learn how to enjoy today. Make a decision not to base your happiness on some future event, but choose happiness today. Today is all you have.

Are you waiting for some other person in your life to change his or her behavior so you can be happy? That is a huge mistake. Why should you let someone else determine your level of joy? Nobody else can make you happy at least not permanently. And people can be rude or hurtful. Take responsibility for your own joy and happiness and make a decision today to never again base it on what someone else does

I would encourage you to develop the habit of laughing more. When we laugh, we momentarily forget all of our concerns and struggles. It energizes us and it’s one of the healthiest things we can do. Sometimes we think too much and try to figure everything out. We become so intense that we forget to laugh at ourselves as well, as well as many other things in life. Laughter can pull a person out of depression and despair, and it can turn an ordinary day into a memorable day. I urge you to find people who make you laugh and spend more time with them. Laughter is more important than you know. Even the Bible tells us it is like a medicine.

I think the root cause of a lot of our unhappiness is simply that we are not happy with ourselves. We’re not happy with the way we look, or our talents or our level of perfection. We may compare ourselves with others, instead of happily being the person that God created us to be. We all make mistakes and yes, we want to be serious about the changes we need to make in our lives, but it’s also good to learn to laugh at ourselves, and not be so intense about every little mistake we make. We all have faults and are likely to have some as long as we’re alive, so lighten up. Don’t take yourself, so seriously. Learn to enjoy yourself.

Trust God to show you what needs to be changed and then work with the Holy Spirit toward those changes. Being unhappy with yourself, won’t make you change any faster. I highly encourage you to enjoy every step of your journey.

Someday your life is going to come to an end so I just want you to be sure to live this one life that you have to the fullest. Your life is a gift, a precious gift from God and it would be tragic if you lived it unhappily. Put the happy habit on your list of good habits to make, and the sad habit or the mad habit on your list of habits to break. Having a life worth living does not happen by accident. It’s something that you have to choose on purpose… It’s your choice to rejoice.

I have been doing a series “Make That Break That” about habits that we need to develop and habits that we need to get rid of in order to live with unlimited possibilities. One of the bad habits we should break is being selfish and self-centered, and the best way to do that is to form the habit of being generous.   

I learned a long time ago that generosity is the cure for greed. Generosity makes one’s soul truly beautiful. God is generous and all those who wish to be like him must learn to be generous. I once heard someone say that when we give, we are more like God than at any other time.  

You know when something is a habit when you actually miss it if you’re not doing it. We can and should form a habit of being generous. That means that we must choose to do more than we would have to do and always do as much as we possibly can. We should never be the type of person who only does what they absolutely have to. Some even do this little and still murmur and complain. 

We should give generously with no expectation of the person returning the favor. Now, God promised to bless and reward the generous person so we expectGod to fulfill His promise. But we do not look to collect from the person we give to. We lean on God to take care of that. 

I don’t believe we are truly generous unless we do what we do with a willing heart. Giving may begin as a discipline, but it should develop into a desire. We can learn to give for the sheer joy we find in doing it.

A spirit of generosity causes a person to give even when it seems unreasonable to do so. The Apostle Paul speaks of the generosity of the church of Macedonia in 2 Corinthians 8:2-3. Just reading about these people makes me admire them and want to be like them. We are drawn to generous people and we instinctively don’t want to be in the presence of stingy people for very long. Greed causes a person to never be satisfied or appreciative for very long no matter how much they have. Greed steals the life of the greedy person because he can never be content. 

God has either created, or given us the ability to create, many beautiful and needful things and I believe he wants his children to enjoy them. But he wants us to enjoy them with the right attitude. That attitude should be one of gratitude, contentment and a willingness to be generous to others. I try not to have anything in my life that I would not give away if God asked me to. If something is hard to give away it has mastered me instead of me mastering it.   

So the best way I know to fight against the bad habit of greed is to develop a good habit of generosity. God‘s word instructs us to not even associate with anyone who is known to be guilty of greed. Why would He say that? I believe it is because greed is a wicked spirit and God doesn’t want us to be affected by it. God wants us to grow in generosity not in greed. If you want to be a generous person, make friends with other generous people. Watch how they live and learn from their example

Now people who are not in the habit of being generous may have to force themselves to be generous for a period of time, but I can assure you that after a while they will become addicted to it. There is nothing more fun to do with money than give it away.Money is like manure … spread it around and it does good but store it up and it starts to stink.Make a decision to be more of a blessing to others and start looking for opportunities to be generous. Learn to be generous and teach it to other people. 

Let me quickly dispel a misunderstanding. You can be a tither and still be stingy. I have known people like this. They understood the principle of tithing, but it wasn’t in their heart to give… and they never had abundance. Another myth to put down,you do not have to have a lot of money to be generous.Generosity can be practiced no matter how much or how little you have. If you share what you have with others, you are a generous person. 

Be a conduit. Allow good things to flow out from you to others. Be a river, not a pond. When blessings flow to you, that is the time to press in and be a blessing to others more than ever. Commit to generosity, no matter what.Do you possess your possessions or do your possessions possess you? Are you able to use what you have to be a blessing? God is a giver and if we want to enjoy life and fulfill our purpose, then we must become givers also.

If you know in your heart that you’re not a generous person don’t feel guilty… But start today by developing a habit of being generous.Let me make it practical for you. Make a plan. Every day think about people you can bless and then what way you can bless them. The more you think of others, the less time you will have to be concentrating on yourself and your own problems. I’ve discovered over the years… the less I think about myself the happier I am.

If you don’t know what the person needs then begin listening to them and it won’t be long before you will hear them mention something they are lacking. They may need encouragement. They may need help with something. Maybe you have something they could use. There are always people who are desperately in need or maybe would be blessed mightily by something we own but don’t use. My motto is use it or lose it. Bonus: Never  sell when you’re in a position to sow. Give it away and let God take care of you.

Ask God to show you ways that you can bless people. The more generous you become the more you will be blessed in your own life. Proverbs says the world of the generous gets larger and larger. We cannot outgive God. He said if we give it will come back to us, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing (Luke 6:38).

Generosity is not only giving ourselves, our money, our things. It also involves how we treat people. Generous spirited people will be patient with the weaknesses of others. They are quick to forgive and slow to get angry.

We are creatures of habit, but bad habits can be broken and replaced with good habits. We can form the habit of being a generous person who continually reaches out to others to make their lives better. By doing so, the bad habits we previously had will find no place to live. 

Palm Sunday occurs every year on the Sunday before Easter. Today, we remember Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The account is  in all four of the gospels. Jesus entered the city, knowing that he was going to be tried, and then crucified. But, he also knew he would be raised from the grave to save us from sin. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Weekor Passion Week, which is the remembrance of the last days of Jesus..

One third of the Gospel writings concern this last week of Jesus’ life on earth. This week, Jesus visited friends in Bethany on Saturday. Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, held a dinner to honor the One who performed this miracle. During the event, Lazarus’ sister Mary worshiped Jesus, anointing his feet. She worshiped, not caring who was watching or what people thought about what she was doing. 

This woman was so thrilled with what Jesus had done in her life and for her family, that she took her most prized possession, perfume that was worth a fortune, and poured it all out for him.

The following day was Sunday. This was Palm Sunday, March 30 in the year 33 AD. This date was prophesied in Zechariah 9 and in Daniel 9. The crowd shouted “Hosanna!” which is a phrase directly from Psalm 118. They were crying “Lord save us!” in verse 25. In the previous verse, we find that THIS WAS THE DAY that the Lord has made. This phrase specifically speaks of this day and prophecy is precise, 173,880 days from March 5, 444 BC when the king gave the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. Palm Sunday was not just another day, but was prophesied hundreds of years before to bear witness to King Jesus.

Most thought Jesus came to deliver them from the oppressions of Rome. But according to Daniel 9, he was going to come on this appointed day and there would be a celebration, but after that the Messiah  would be cut off. In 33 AD, inattentive of the prophecies of old but fulfilling them nonetheless, the Pharisees saw the popularity he had gained and resolved to destroy him. God’s word reveals such great truths in every part of the story. As we spend time considering these scriptures, they draw us closer toward Christ and remind us that he indeed is King.

Many biblical prophecies were fulfilled during this week. Jesus came to earth to save humanity by dying on the cross on Good Friday (Passover) and resurrecting on Easter Sunday. By doing what he did, he swung the gates of heaven open, allowing our sins to be forgiven and ushering in the presence of God. Until then it was impossible for humans to be good enough to be in the presence of God, and be forgiven for our sins. Old Testament sacrifices were used to cover sin by the Jewish people, but Jesus was the perfect sacrifice once and for all, including Gentiles. He went to the cross out of his great love for you and for me so that we could stand in the presence of God.

The story of Jesus’ Passion during Holy Week started on Sunday with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem as a king which is why it was triumphant. Monday was Jesus’ first public act as King. He cleansed the temple symbolic of the cleansing he accomplishes in us, his living temple.

On Tuesday, Peter noticed the withered fig tree that Jesus had cursed. Jesus used this as a lesson for us  to have faith and recognize the power of forgiveness. The tree was a picture of what God’s people should be, a deeply rooted plant that grows leaves and bears fruit. Jesus will come out against the fruitless temple. 

Wednesday is widely known as spy Wednesday. There was a plot developed by the high priest and the authorities to kill Jesus. This is when everyone knew Jesus had to die. Judas made himself available to the plot and agreed to betray his teacher. 

Thursday we remember his last meal and the new covenant presented at the Last Supper. Jesus ministered in a personal and intimate way to his closest disciples and counseled them for the last time before his death. He revealed that the Passover meal would now represent his body and blood given for them… and us. He was the lamb that would bring freedom, sealing a new covenant, that through his death we would be free and through his resurrection he would be our King. We celebrate this act of God  today by communion when we break bread and share wine or juice, which represents the blood and the body of Christ. On this day, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment that we find in John 13:34,

“Love one another just as I have loved you..”

Friday, Jesus was arrested and the King of the universe was questioned, tortured and condemned, an innocent man led to crucifixion and death on the cross. He was betrayed and deserted by his closest friends. Why would it be called Good Friday? It’s called Good Friday, because by Jesus’ death, he became the final and complete sacrifice for our sins. Jesus broke the bonds of sin and death for you and for me.

Saturday would be his body resting in the tomb. It was a rich man’s tomb, which again fulfilled the prophecy from the old testament in Isaiah 53. Holy Saturday is a time for us to really lean into being present in the Lord, placing our own agendas at the door, and coming before him to simply just be with him. The Lord desires a relationship with us, and the requirement of relationship is time together. I would encourage you Saturday not to ask God for anything, but simply just spend some time with him. On Saturday, we remember everything was finished and there was nothing to be added. We join Jesus in his rest and we join him in the Sabbath.

Next Sunday, we will celebrate the day of resurrection. Jesus defeated death and the news of how God’s son died for our sins and rose again from the dead spread. He reigns today, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, our King, who on Palm Sunday rode out like a rival king, who on Monday and Tuesday pronounced destruction on the temple and his final victory, who on Wednesday was prepared for burial like royalty and on Thursday announced the new covenant of his monarchy. On Friday he went to war with death on a Roman tree and on Saturday he rested from all of his work in Sabbath sleep. On Sunday, he rose from the dead and proved once and for all that he is who the whole Bible and this Holy Week claim him to be… Our God in the flesh… King of kings… Our Savior who reigns eternally.