Timing is everything.

Genesis 12:1-9

Now the Lord said  to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.  Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.  From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

So God speaks to Abraham, telling him to, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you".  As you read on in this passage we see that , as Abraham is traveling, he goes right through Canaan (the land that God will eventually give him). God appears to Abraham and says, “To your offspring I will give this land.” God lets Abraham know, this is the place, this is the land I am giving you and your descendants. But God does not give it to Abraham right then. God leads him to the land. God tells him this is the land. But God does not give the land to him ... he makes Abraham wait. 

I find it interesting that with God, it is not only the "what" and "where" …. but also the "when" that is so important. It was not the right time for Abraham to receive the promise from God. So God allowed him to continue on. In the process, Abraham would do some things right, he would do some things wrong. He would make mistakes and ultimately, he would learn to trust God more.

I think the same holds true today for us. In fact I know it does. 

In our life today, God does not only care about the "what" and the "where" …. he cares about the "when". Timing is everything! When its the right time God will reveal the plan and open the door. Until then there are lessons that need to be learned. There are mistakes need to be made and trust the needs to be developed. 

Timing is everything! 

Application Questions:

What promise has God made to you?

Where do you feel like God is moving you in your journey of faith?

What lessons do you need to learn while you wait?

What changes do you need to make?

Are you willing to trust God in the meantime?

Are you willing to stay faithful to him?

Are you giving your absolute best with what you currently have and where you currently are?

Are you running the race alone or is your team running with you?

The race God has called us to run is far to hard to be ran alone, but anything is possible when we run it as a team.  

Today I was working in my home office, when I saw something sitting on my shelf that reminded me the power of "TEAM".

Several years ago when I was the Youth Pastor of Church on the Move in Tulsa, Ok. I got all of my team members around that served alongside at Oneighty. In the meeting I had each one of them come up and I handed them a football. This football had our mission of Reach - Relate - Renew written on one side and our goal reaching 1,000 students written on the other side. 

It was a very powerful moment as each individual came up and I handed them their ball.  As I looked them in the eye, I let them know that the ball (the mission) is now in their hands. They are free to run and carry us across the goal line.  

I still remember the very first Wednesday night service that we reached the goal of 1,000 teenagers attending our worship gathering. It was so amazing to see what God did corporately through Sam, Kristy, Josh, John, James, the interns and all of the volunteer team members that served alongside of them each week.

Application questions:

1 - Who is on your team and what roles do they play?

2 - What is your mission and is that mission clearly defined and know by the team?

3 - What is a medium or long range goal that your entire team is working toward?

4 - What can you do to rally your team around the mission and to run toward the goal?

Creating a climate to train leaders not followers. Part 1

Every Tuesday at 12noon Pacific Time I do a Six Minute (or more) seminar on various topics on life and leadership. This past week we had a conversation about creating a climate in your church or business that attracts, trains, and releases leaders in your organization not just adds followers. 

Here is part one of the seminar. My hope is that you would watch it, apply it, and share the link with a friend. 

Comment below, I'd love to continue the conversation and hear tips that you have on raising up leaders. 

Read to Lead. Here's what I've read and going to read in 2018.

Books I've had the pleasure of reading so far this year:

Breakout Churches                     Thom Rainer 

Spiritual Leadership                    Henry Blackaby 

The Mentoring Church                 Phil Newton 

Platform                                       Michael Hyatt 

The Art of the Deal                      Donald Trump 

Autopsy of a Deceased Church   Thom Rainer 

Discipling                                      Mark Dever 

The Money Challenge                   Art Rainer 

Selling 101                                     Zig Ziglar 

Relationships 101                         John Maxwell 

How Successful People Lead      John Maxwell 

Books that I will read throughout the rest of 2018:

Principle Centered Leadership           Stephen Covey 

The Magic of Thinking Big                  David Schwartz 

The Explicit Gospel                                       Matt Chandler 

The Winning Attitude                                   John Maxwell 

Developing Leaders Around You                 John Maxwell 

Becoming a Person of Influence                  John Maxwell 

17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork               John Maxwell 

Execution                                                       Larry Bossidy 

What Got You Here Won't Get You There    Marshal Goldsmith 

Growing Up                                                    Robby Gallaty 

What is on your reading list? 

Please comment below. I would love to pick them up and add to my  reading plan

Brick or Rock? Lessons from the Tower of Babel.

This morning I was reading in Genesis Chapter 11 about the Tower of Babel. I’ve always found this story very interesting! 

The story starts off saying, “While men were migrating eastward”. 

In the Bible going “East” many times signifies a moving away from the things of God. Here are a few examples - Adam and Eve were sent “East of Eden” - Lot went “East and pitched his tent toward Sodam - The Israelites were moved to the “East” when Babylonian Empire took them into captivity. - and the people in Genesis 11 migrated "East" to build a man man society based on selfish motives rather than Godly principles. 

When the people that were migrating eastward discovered a valley in the land of Sennaar and decided to settle there.  They said to one each other, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them.”  They used bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar.  They then said, “Let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered all over the earth.” 

The tower of Babel is possibly our first look into a truly secular society. By secular I mean a society (group of people) that sets itself up out of the will of God and in complete opposition to his standards. 

One of the first things that I notice is that the tower of Babel was made out of bricks. I am not a brick layer by any means, but in some of the studies that I’ve done, here are a few characteristics of bricks. 

1 - They are man made, artificial rocks. You will not find a brick occurring in nature. 

2 -  They are identical and uniform. It is very hard to distinguish one brick from another. 

3 - They are functionally interchangeable. A brick can serve equally well anywhere in a wall. 

However, when you look at rocks or stones they are completely different then bricks. 

1 - They were created by God not man. 

2 - They are unique in shape, size, strength, and purpose.

3 - They are not interchangeable. When building roads or walls, you need to find the unique stone and/ or style of rock for the job. 

Lets look at a passage of scripture found in, 1 Peter 2:4-5

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

I love this passage! 

God is inviting us to come to Him! He doesn't want us to be like the people in Genesis 11 who migrated “east” away from God and His ways. He wants us to migrate toward Him and into His hands. 

When we place ourselves in Gods hands, He forms us and creates us into living stones, uniquely gifted, uniquely placed in His house, to set apart for His unique purpose for our life! 

However, when we don't come to God, we place ourselves in the hands of culture. We will be made in the image of those around us. We will think like them, act like them, and be just another brick in a man made wall that will soon crumble. 

So what do we do with this?

1 - Go toward God ... not away from Him. 

2 - Put ourself in His hands by accepting Jesus grace through salvation. 

3 - Let God create us by obeying Him daily. 

4 - Find our fulfillment in living out Gods unique plan for our life, not our selfish motives.