Sunday download
• pre-Sunday action: preached at a porn shop last night. Well, a former porn shop at Surfers' Church last night in Wahiawa. My good friends, Tom and Cindy Bauer, founders and directors of Surfing the Nations are doing some incredible, transformational work in Wahiawa. Go check them out.
• It was a good finish to our "Unshakeable" series today.
• Felt like the message connected. Bottom line to this series is even though we go through shaking and uncertainty, God is the One who is Unshakeable.
• Hit small groups today in the message. We experience God's presence in fellowship, so get to a group for processing, prayer, and encouragement. Man cannot live on Sunday alone.
• Overheard a conversation after church that went something like this: "Church isn't about Pastor Mike, it's about Jesus." Yes!! I love it. They get it. GBCK is all about discipleship which means we follow Jesus and help others do the same.
• Mel and Cher did a great job leading worship today. They are long-time worship singers, but now they're starting to lead worship. They nailed it!
• Got a call after church from one of our leaders about a GBCK member with cancer that is spreading. They found it in his kidneys now. Gotta admit that it wrecked me a little. Had a good cry and prayer for him. I hate cancer. Too many of our people are getting it.
• We gotta respond to this wave of cancer. Feeling we need to call a special prayer focus. Can't just take it lying down.
• One of my greatest joys is seeing people step-up in ministry. I love that ministry doesn't revolve around the pastor.
• Super positive response to the opening of 3rd Cup Café & Venue. This is our coffee shop that will pour all its profits into the community. It's "coffee with a cause." We open in 2 months. Yeah!
• Please pray for the 3rd Cup. It's a huge project but things are moving forward. Super big thanks to Mel Reyes who is helping with the business end of things, and to Pastor Dane and the GBCK staff who are doing a great job helping with the church-side of things.
• Excited to celebrate GBCK's 5th anniversary next Sunday, Sept. 25. Hard to believe it's been five years already. Stoked to Pastor Norman from GBC Pearlside come and speak at the anniversary. To all GBCKer's: Be in the House this coming Sunday! Bring a friend too. Let's pack it out!
• Good night and Good luck!
Favor
"And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me." Nehemiah 2:8 (NLT)
Nehemiah took on the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding Jerusalem's walls. Extraordinarily, Nehemiah wasn't a political, religious, or military leader; he was a cup bearer. Yet he experienced God's favor. Here are some thoughts why Nehemiah experienced the favor of God (taken from Nehemiah 1-3):
• He prayed: prayer recognizes that favor comes from God. In Jewish culture the recipient of favor and blessing would be on his knees. The giver of the blessing would stand over the recipient and place his hand on the person. When we pray we "bend our knee" and recognize that favor comes from God who is stronger and higher than us. Nehemiah's prayers also came with a deep realization of his own sinfulness followed by repentance.
• He was scared: Nehemiah says he was "badly frightened." I don't know too many men who would admit that. Approaching the king Artaxerxes could mean death for Nehemiah. Protocol demanded that one must be summoned to have an audience with the king. Breaking protocol meant death. I think favor and fear go hand-in-hand. That is, we ask for favor because the situation is fearful. If you think, How is this going to happen? or Failure seems just around the corner or I don't know how this will turn out, then let the fear you feel prompt you to pray for favor.
• He asked: Nehemiah asked for favor from God (1:11), but he also needed to ask Artaxerxes for favor to be released to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls. Favor means we take action. Nehemiah didn't sit back and wait for God's favor. He needed to ask the king. Asking for favor is the first step in a series of action steps we need to take. We ask for God's favor in prayer, we experience God's favor by taking action.
• He wasn't about "me": Nehemiah experienced God's favor as he set out to rebuild Jerusalem's walls. I think we experience God's favor when there's a greater cause. Favor comes into our lives to bless others, it goes beyond a "bless me" mindset.
• He told others about God's favor: Nehemiah wasn't bragging, he was celebrating. However, notice how his testimony inspired others to get involved in the work. Favor is attractive. Favor will attract people to the mission. Using favor to attract people to oneself is offensive to God and is idolatrous. Celebrate the "wins" in life to show how great God is.
God, you owe me
- This is how you do me!!!
Buffalo Bills wide receiver, Steve Johnson, dropped a game-winning pass a couple Sundays ago when playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. After the game, the upset football player tweeted this to God:
I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO...
Apparently, God owed Johnson the touchdown catch because Johnson praises God all the time. It seems comical at first, but Johnson's tweet does reflect a common belief about man's relationship to God. It's a belief that if I do good things then God owes me a good life. In Johnson's case, he says he praises God "24/7" (a good thing) and in return God should have helped him catch the pass (a good life).
The problem with this belief is we put God into our debt; that is, God owes us a good life if we do the appropriate good thing. The truth is, because of sin we are the debtors. Scripture tells us that the payment for sin is death, and that there is no way we could ever repay what we owe. Sure, we try to repay our debt. We try to love people, live good lives, recycle our bottles, vote, and use our blinkers on the freeway, but in the end, our good works can never pay off our debt.
This is why we need a Savior, one who was willing to pay our debt for us with his life. Jesus paid our debt by going to the cross and dying for our sins; not because we deserved it, but because of his grace. Our debt has been paid in full, the collectors don't call anymore, our account has been replenished, we are "whole" and in right standing.
Our response to this incredible gift is to put faith in Christ and to praise him for his generosity and grace. Let's remember, we praise him because of what he did for us, and because we want Him, not because we want something from Him.
Small groups are important
I love Rick Warren's post on six important reasons you need a small group. Here are the six in a nutshell:
1. It’s the classroom for learning how to get along in God’s family.
2. A small group helps me develop spiritual muscle.
3. A small group confirms my identity as a genuine believer.
4. A small group is the best way to take my God-given mission in the world.
5. A small group will help keep me from spiritually backsliding.
6. The Body of Christ needs me!
At GBCK, small groups are a big part of our discipleship process. We see that deepening our connection with others is vital to growing as a Christ-follower. It's a mistake to think that a relationship with Jesus is a personal and private matter. Following Jesus is communal and public, and the Gospel should move us toward each other, not toward isolation.
Every time someone tells me they feel detached from church, almost 100% of the time they are not in a small group. My encouragement is to review Rick's reasons for small group above, and to let the Gospel move you toward connecting in a community.
The Social Network
Julie and I went to a movie last night, our first movie in a theater in a long, long time. We watched The Social Network, the story of the beginning of Facebook.
I like the scene where Facebook co-founders, Zuckerberg and Saverin, began to understand the enormity of Facebook's potential. Saverin wanted to start earning money with the site by selling ads. Zuckerberg wanted to keep the site ad-free and maintain its "cool" factor, and incorporating advertising would make the site uncool.
I thought Zuckerberg showed incredible patience and discipline in holding off from advertisements. He wasn't sure what they had on their hands with The Facebook site, all he knew is that it was gaining momentum fast. I think there's something to be learned from this. Sometimes we can settle for the good when better is just down the road. Often, we don't know what's down the road -- it's not so clear -- but there's something to be said for delaying immediate gratification and waiting for the "other thing."
This is why the Bible says to "wait on the Lord", which means to align myself to God's timing and purposes. This means not jumping at every opportunity, idea, fad, or innovation. It means having patience and faith that God's best plan and purpose is sometimes just down the road.
Latest tweets
- RT @3rdcupcafe: Tomorrow Night! Oh yeah, We got em' back! Canoes for Rent will be here Tomorrow Night From 8pm on! Come get your groove on! twitter.com/mikeohara808
- RT @NormanNakanishi: "We must allow our standard of giving to determine our standard of living." - Bill Hybels, Pastor, Willow Creek Com ... twitter.com/mikeohara808
- @MattChandler74 Matt, really appreciate ur ministry all the way here in Hawaii. Thankful for u. Mike twitter.com/mikeohara808
Recent Posts
Categories
- Books of the Bible (2)
- Catalyst West Coast 2009 (1)
- church (20)
- Devotions (3)
- Discipleship (2)
- Faith (8)
- Family (5)
- Gospel (9)
- Jeremiah (1)
- Leadership (13)
- life (9)
- Message Series (5)
- Nehemiah (1)
- On my mind (8)
- Parenting (5)
- Philippians (1)
- preaching (6)
- Reflect and Review (5)
- Uncategorized (11)