Day 2 of My Leave

Leave – Day 2

As I begin day 2 of my leave I wanted to report that I am digging into Enemies of the Heart written by Andy Stanley.  As most of you who know me know – I appreciate Andy’s teaching and preaching.  He is a refreshing voice in the landscape of spiritual leaders.  I have attended Catalyst the last four or five years – a ministry for leaders of the next generation – founded by folks from his local church – North Point Church.  I have read several of his books and attended other seminars where he was a speaker.  The picture with this post was a book signing at a recent Catalyst event near Atlanta, Georgia.

A quote on page 11 of this book is so true: …just as a heart attack has the potential to destroy your body, so spiritual heart disease has the potential to destroy you and squeeze the life out of your most valuable relationships.  I pray that as I read my heart will come under examination and God will purify it – and set it on Him and Him alone.  That is my prayer for you as well.

In this book Andy deals with four enemies of the heart – Guilt, Anger, Greed, and Jealousy.  I am enjoying this book and look forward to reading others on my list during my leave.  I am taking notes and saving some examples for future sermons.

I won’t report everyday but will from time to time.  God bless you and I am praying for you – please pray for me!

Enemies of the Heart

James 4:1

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?

Have you ever seen a child throw a temper tantrum because they didn’t get what they wanted or what they thought they deserved?  Maybe they were in the grocery store and wanted a certain box of cereal they had seen on TV.  Maybe it was Christmas morning or at a birthday party and the gift they wanted wasn’t there or the gift they got disappointed them somehow.  I pick on children because they haven’t learned to hide their emotions like many of us have (or haven’t).  They let that raw heart-felt emotion show many times.

Adults are not innocent here my friends.  I have seen grown adults – in church meetings no less – throw temper tantrums – throwing down a clip board – pulling power plays to gain an upper hand in a discussion and more.  Have you ever sat back – after an outburst by you or someone else and wondered – where did that come from?  James asks that question today – What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?

James says this about what battles within us: James 4:1-3 – 4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

I’m reading a book by Andy Stanley titled Enemies of the Heart.  It tells us that those thoughts and emotions we have tried to hide – sometimes – come from within us.  He writes about four enemies of the heart: guilt (I owe you), anger (you owe me), greed (I owe me), and jealousy (God owes me).  I recommend this book to everyone!  It is helping me.  You can also listen to Andy’s podcasts on these subjects on iTunes (search for Andy Stanley Leadership Podcasts in the iTunes store).  The series is called Enemies of the Heart and he has already covered guilt, anger and greed and will cover jealousy in October.

A side note – and it is important – we may think we have learned to hide our emotions and have learned to guard our tongues – but far too often what is in the heart will surface one way or the other – physically, emotionally, or spiritually.  We all need healing and I know I am learning a lot about why I do certain things as a person and as a pastor by reading this book and listening to these podcasts.  I would urge you read and listen with an open heart and see what God can tell you.

Just something to think about today as you go on your way.

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(P.S. – sorry I missed yesterday – I was in a two day seminar and just didn’t get something out)

How and When Does God Speak to the Pastor?

Have you ever wondered where the inspiration comes for the pastor to prepare a message each week?  The Holy Spirit speaks through a number of resources.  Recently in a sermon I mentioned that I listen to a number of sermons on podcasts each week.  I also mentioned that I try to read a number of blogs and books (not enough of them).  I also said that at times – sermon ideas come from these resources.  God speaks to my heart and I occasionally use the ideas of others to relay what God is saying to me (there is nothing new under the sun).

Some have questioned this by suggesting that the Holy Spirit should speak directly to a pastor and that all sermons should come out of the pastor’s relationship with God (I’m stretching this some to make a point).  I want to suggest that my relationship with God is more than my prayer life and my reading of the Bible.  Surely these are primary – but reading or listening to how God speaks to others should also be useful resources. Pastors for generations have used the writings of others – an example would be the many commentaries written to help us understand the Bible (not equal to the Bible but useful for discerning the truth of the Bible).  A generation ago most every pastor I knew had a set of commentaries in their office – others’ ideas on the Scriptures.  They used these to prepare their sermons each week.

Today I do not need to have one set of commentaries on the Bible – I have many. My Bible program has no less than 30 different commentaries as well as over 3 dozen sets of sermons and writings on the Scriptures including sermons written by John Wesley – John Calvin – Martin Luther and others.  With the internet – I also listen to sermons through podcasts preached by the likes of Craig Groeschel – Andy Stanley – Ravi Zacharias and others – such as preachers I know that put their sermons on their websites or on iTunes.

With these additional resources – I get to look at the Scriptures – not only from my point of view – but also from the eyes of other men of God.  Have you ever used two translations of the Bible to better understand a passage?  These resources are like multiple translations.  I try to let you know when I am taking more than just a few ideas from them – like I did this past Sunday when I mentioned that a lot of the ideas for the Guardrails Series came from a sermon series that Andy Stanley preached in his church last year.  In doing this I am not trying to name drop but rather to be honest with the resources I use – like the series last year when I used a number of ideas from the book written by Reggie Joiner as we launched our children’s and youth focus – Orange (family-yellow and church-red combined to make orange).  Some saw this series as one of the best we have shared and some saw it as a book report.  I saw it as a creative way of presenting what the Holy Spirit was telling the staff and church leadership about the direction of our ministry.

I ask for your prayers next week (on Thursday) as I will set aside a day – with two other pastors from the area – to seek what God would have us preach to our congregations in the coming months.  We will spend time praying together – picking our brains – and doing individual work for each of our churches.  My prayer is that God will give me just what is needed for our spiritual journey together as we reach the whole family for Christ.

Just something to think about today as you go on your way.

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Leadership Podcasts

All Christians need to be built up, to grow in their knowledge of and love for Christ.  With today’s technology, we have every opportunity to be built up, and from the comfort of our office or home.  I encourage all Christians to grow but I especially ask the leaders at Mt. Oak to pay attention to this opportunity.

As leaders, we are called to go the extra mile, to go beyond the norm.  We are called to dig deeper as we search out the things of God.  There are a number of leadership podcasts out there that Christian leaders can listen to and get insights from on a regular basis.  The one I recommend above all others is Andy Stanley’s Leadership Podcast http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/andy-stanley-leadership-podcast/id290055666, you can also find them on their home page at http://www.northpoint.org/podcasts. These are excerpts of some of Andy’s teachings and then dialogue around the subject of that session.

Sessions to date include:

• Assumptions
• Mutual Submission
• Trust vs. Suspicion
• High Performance Teams
• Systems
• Becoming a Student
• Effective Communication
• The Principle of the Path
• Breaking Paradigms
• Keeping your Vision Out Front
• Leading in Uncertain Times
• Listening, Learning, and Leading
• What No One Else Is Doing
• Stating Vision Simply
• Casting Vision Convincingly
• Repeat Vision Regularly & Celebrate Vision Systematically
• Embrace Vision Personally
• Making Your Mark

I have subscribed to this and other podcasts through iTunes and have them on my home and work computer as well as my iPod so I can listen to them when I am traveling.  I listen to them over and over again – because there is always something that I might have missed the previous time through.  I also review them regularly to keep abreast of what we’re doing in ministry at Mt. Oak.

I would urge all officers and leaders at Mt. Oak to listen to these podcasts.  The pastors and directors listen to them.

Church Council members – as we prayerfully consider our vision and mission I would urge us to listen to the sessions on vision – it will help us as we roll out what God has laid on our hearts.