Chasing with a Reckless Abandon

Make Failure Great

sebren — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:45:22 +0000

Failure sucks and failure is great. How is it both. Well it gives you a chance to know what you are good at and what you need to work on. It gives you a chance to grow. It gives you a chance to evaluate things and make changes for the better.

The end result of failure is not the email you receive, the pink slip from work or the foreclosure on your house. The end result is, how will I learn and grow from this? What will be different tomorrow to make me better because of this failure?

Make your failure great!

Solution to The Parable of the Sower

sebren — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:44:41 +0000

I am reading in bible where Jesus tells this story about a farmer scattering seeds and the different types of soil the seed falls on making all the difference. (Mark 4:1-20) The disciples, these are the guys who are following Jesus and learning his ways, ask about this story. He begins to unpack the story by telling them the seed is the word of God and the soil is people’s lives.

The story as Jesus tells it says the farmer was scattering the seed and it feel on different types of soil but only the good soil was receptive. Solution: invest in the Soil (people’s lives) so they will be receptive to the seed (word of God).

The Love of God creates an atmosphere where people are receptive to the word of God!

Someone else’s underwear part 2 ?????

sebren — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:07:43 +0000

I follow a number of people on twitter. A number of people who no one would ever recognize, people who would be recognized and everything in-between. I follow Christ followers and people who do not follow the teachings of Christ. I follow pastors and non pastors. A couple of weeks back on a Sunday morning a really prominent pastor I follow wrote the following message:

“Looking at a guy who sat through worship and now he’s sleeping through the sermon. Wonder if he calls himself a Christian? #sad #deluded“

Here is my reply:

“maybe the sitting / sleeping man worked the night shift and loves God more than sleeping in the bed. Slow down w/ judgement”

It’s hard in the real world and it’s easy to lose touch with reality.

Hey maybe the guy doesn’t love God at all. He didn’t want to be a hypocrite and so he didn’t sing songs he didn’t mean. Maybe he was falling asleep because the preacher was boring or using words to describe the Love and Truth of God that this man couldn’t understand without a life full of church history.

Sometimes being a 1st time guest is NOT so welcoming.

Someone else’s underwear ?????

sebren — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 01:14:54 +0000

The situation plays out like this . . . I have been speaking at a number of summer camps and retreats this summer. Well, 2 camps back I was talking to a couple of students who had their feels hurt by some adult at the mall. My comment was, “until you put yourself in that man’s underwear you will never realize he has a wedgie.” All of the sudden this girls face rose and she seemed to understand. Maybe this guy wasn’t really mad at her or even trying to be a butt, he simply had a problem with his underwear riding up into his butt. This was making him NOT so nice.

To be totally truthful with you, I re-used this statement at FBC, Bay St. Louis on my next Sunday morning preaching opportunity. I am tell you the truth. I was even wearing a suit. The fact is, this statement seemed to connect with a crowd mixed with 1/2 gray hairs as much has it did a teen girl at the mall. Why – TRUTH!

Until we put ourselves in the situation and life of other people we should really be careful about judging them.

Going the NEXT step . . .

sebren — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 01:43:44 +0000

Sometimes it’s taking the NEXT step that is the hardest. The place you stand is comfortable and is a place of the known but going the NEXT step can be the hardest. I have met many homeless people living under bridges who would say they hate their lives but they can’t take the NEXT step. WHY? It’s the unknown many times. Where they are they know. They know what to expect and what will come next but if they are to leave there and step out to the NEXT step of the unknown it is to scary.

What is your NEXT step?

What is God calling you to give up, to move forward from or to?

When was the last time you made any change in your routine?

God has All Power and Good Intentions . . .

sebren — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:28:41 +0000

Check out this video which has a great story about God being All Powerful and full of Good Intentions. Steven Furtick is the pastor of Elevation Church.

What Kind of church is that . . .

sebren — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:00:58 +0000

When I left the last church I was at back in August – there were many who asked why? I have answered that question in another blog. After about 3 month of visiting theVine and meeting with Pastor David, it became clear my NEXT step was to join the staff as Outreach Pastor. Here is a video highlighting year 2 of theVine to answer the other question I often get. What kind of church is theVine? Watch this video and you will know exactly what kind of church . . .

Raising a Disciple . . .

sebren — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:02:20 +0000

Last Sunday (Easter) my family got the honor of picking up the signs for theVine. I say honor because these signs are an avenue which help people find their way to theVine. It’s not hard to pick them up or put them out, but it does take about 15 min. and has to be done within a specific time frame. As we were picking them up last week Weatherly (5 year old daughter) was hungry and ready to eat “NOW”. I took the time as we were driving to explain to her, “if we help with these signs then we are helping Pastor David connect people to God’s LOVE as they find their way to theVine.” She began to stop complaining and get excited about having a meaningful job of eternal value. This morning as we headed out early to place the signs in the proper locations, Weatherly asked, “daddy are lots of people going to see these signs and know about God’s LOVE because of them?” It hit me in that moment, she is understanding the importance of being the sign person for theVine today. Then it hit me – we should pray over these signs for all the people who will see them to know how much God LOVES them. The most powerful part of my day came as I got out of the car and my 5 year old daughter would pray out loud where I could hear her, “God, help the people who see this sign know you are real and you LOVE them.”

How do you raise a disciple . . . I don’t know, but this is what I did today.

and he is in SEMINARY? . . .

sebren — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:27:01 +0000

I was talking today with Ken, a great friend, who has been in ministry for about 2 years now. We were talking about many things but my brain was rocked when he shared a story about the stupidness coming from a local seminary student. Ken was at a lifeway book store and one of the workers asked him, “are you in the ministry?” . . . by the way – that is code for, can we talk about crap that doesn’t really mean anything and act like we are something we aren’t. Ken said, “yeah”. Seminary guy says, “where do you serve?” Ken says, “hall country fire, I minister to the guys at the station and the people I come into contact with as I am going out on calls.” The next statement from Mr. Seminary Guy just rocked my brain. Seminary Guy says, “wow, I have never thought about it like that before, I think you are right.”

Okay, are they not teaching those kinds of things in seminary? I hope he isn’t close to graduation. Mr. Seminary Guy is going to lead the people of God, but not teach them that they are ministers? What about being a royal priesthood, called to declare the goodness of God who has called us out of darkness and into his great light.

What about you, are you in the ministry?

Chasing with a Reckless Abandon . . .

sebren — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:48:16 +0000

When I began this journey of trusting God through faith in Jesus, I promised to give my all . . . to go full-on for the Lord the way I had for myself before I trusted the Lord. I figured at the time, “if he is God, he did create everything, and gave his life for me then I should follow him with all I am.” That promise and his revealing of himself to be trustworthy and true has led me into a life of abandonment. Am I completely there? NO, but I long to be . . . I want to know him and to fellowship with him in such a way that I can understand him and all he longs for me and has planned for me. Paul, this amazing dude from the bible, who was radically transformed when he saw Jesus for the truth of who he really is – says it this way . . .

Philippians 3:10-14
“10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

As I pray this prayer, God continues to ruin my life . . . but it is the best kind of ruin I have ever experienced. God also continues to remind me that my life is not my own but I have been bought with a price OR is that just pretty words that church people say. If you believe you have been bought with a price and you are not your own then it is easy for you to give of yourself, it is easy for you to serve, and it is easy to sacrifice – actually it’s an honor to give self, to serve and to sacrifice.

I have come to a place where I do truly BELIEVE & TRUST and it is more than saying the right things or knowing the right answers. The Life I live is LIFE . . . I don’t do what I do for any other reason than the fact, it is LIFE!