I know, it's a little strange for me to read a book by George Foreman. I don't even own a George Foreman grill.
What interested me at first was the word "entrepreneur" in the title. Since I'm a church planter, I'm almost like a spiritual entrepreneur, so I was thinking I might learn something from good ole George.
This book is packed with all kinds of great information. There are helpful tidbits spread throughout the book.
My problem with the book, however, is that it's to "George Foreman" for me. I think if I'd have been a fan of his, or at least a fan of boxing, then I would have enjoyed this book a bit more. But it just ended up being too much. It almost knocked me out to read it... which is sad because there really is a lot of great, practical business info in the book.
I'll also emphasize the "business" info. George is a businessman. And while some principles do bleed over into church world, I found that this book wasn't as helpful or relevant to me as some others I've read. I would say, however, that if you are interested in starting your own business, and can make it through George's writing style, then you are likely to get a lot from this book.
This book was provided courtesy of Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Be honest. Your life is too complicated. You don't have enough time to do what you need to do. Urgent things trump important things. You long for simplicity, right?
I would agree with what I just wrote, and so would the authors of Simple Life. This was a simple and practical book that walks you through the process of moving from a complicated life to a simple life.
Based on a survey of over 1000 Americans, the book talks about four areas of our lives where we long for simplicity, and how to get there: Time, Relationship, Money and God.
Basically, their prescription for simplicity involves a four step process. 1) Decide what you want to change by creating a doable mission statement. 2) Get rid of all the bad stuff that gets in the way of you getting to where you want to go. 3) Make sure your plan aligns with who you are, your personality and your giftedness. 4) Saying no to good things so that you'll only have great things in your life.
So would you like a life that's a bit less complicated? Are you not sure how to get from where you are now to where you'd like to be? This book could be a great help to you. It was for me.
This book was provided courtesy of The Ooze Viral Bloggers.
If you're interested, I just posted the transcript for today's sermon here.
I was reading this today and it motivated me to write this post. Mark Batterson says this, "The favor of God is God doing things for you that you cannot do for yourself."
Would you consider praying for God's favor on Hub City? Would you take a day next week and fast for God's favor?
Mark says, "It is the favor of God that got us to where we are. And it is the favor of God that will get us where God wants us to go. So we're going to fast for favor!"
That's true with Hub City. May God surround us with his favor as a shield.
I don't know why this has been on my mind for the past few days, but if I could encourage you to do one thing that will help you foolproof your life, that will be for your personal benefit, that you'll look back on 10 years in the future and be glad you did it, I would encourage you to spend time with your Creator and Savior every day. Pray. Read your Bible. Get to know God. Let God speak to you through his word. Do what he says.
I promise, this is one habit that you'll be thankful you developed.
Be honest, you don't want somebody telling you what to do, right? None of us like to be told what to do. We think that we're more free if we're out from under authority.
I've always had the dysfunction of having trouble with authority, specifically bad authority. By that I mean authority that doesn't have my best interests at heart or, even worse, authority that could care less about my interests at all.
But here's an amazing truth: Maximum Freedom is found under authority. Or maybe I should say it this way: Maximum Freedom is found under Biblical authority.
So here's my question: Are you submitting to Biblical authority? Here's another question that might be a little more convicting: Are you picking and choosing what Biblical authority you're submitting to?
The first step to finding true freedom is having an attitude that says, "I am going to submit to the authority of God as revealed in the Bible." The second step is actually spending time reading the Bible for yourself so that you know what it says. The third step is actually doing it.
Here's my challenge: Do a little self evaluation. Are you submitting to Biblical authority? Use the following categories: Am I submitting to Biblical authority with my morality, my time, finances, my relationships, my parenting, my dating, my attitude, my speech, my thoughts, my possessions?
Maximum freedom comes when we submit ourselves to Biblical Authority. Are you under that authority?
BTW: I've seen some incredible examples of how God is transforming people who are a part of the Hub City family because they are doing this. I am proud of them. You know who you are!
FYI: I just posted the transcript to Sunday's sermon here.
And I have to make this disclaimer: I know it's a sermon about money. I know some of you would disagree with what I said. I just want you to know that I'm not going to argue. If you disagree then take it up with God. That this topic (money) evokes such a strong reaction says something about who, or what, has our hearts (Matthew 6:21).
I think that a lot of times when we disagree with what God says about money it says more about our hearts than we want to admit. I think it says something about our willingness or unwillingness to submit to God's authority on the subject.
I've never done this, but comments are closed for this post. If you want to argue about how you're handling God's money talk to God. He's got more time on his hands than me.
Look a here, not only were we on the nightly news, but I found this story online. I love it when we do things that make the news... maybe I should say, I love it when we do good things that make the news. :)
I just read this quote that Andy Stanley made at Catalyst: Are you trying to make your mark, or are you positioning yourself for God to make His mark through you?
That's something to chew on.
I really hate to do this, but I've got to be honest. I really did not like this book. It was hard to read. It used way, way, way too many words. I disagreed with some of the Scripture interpretation. It didn't seem to go where I thought it was going to go.
Maybe that was my problem. I thought it was going somewhere, but it never got there, so I was frustrated.
The best part of the book was some parenting advice I got. I don't think that the advice was intentional, but it was good. It involves the difference between loving our kids unconditionally and being pleased with our kids. I love my kids unconditionally. Nothing's going to change that. But I'm not always pleased with their behavior or attitudes. The same is true of God. I want to live a life that's pleasing to my heavenly father.
But that's all I got. Maybe I'll come back to it in the future and get more out of it. I'm trying to be nice.
I do have a copy to give away if someone else out there would like to read it. Maybe you'll get more out of it than me.
Since we're going to be looking at the question, What's the wise thing to do with money?, this Sunday I thought that Vince's post would be good to read and think about so that we can be ready:
One of the wild things about the Bible is how often it talks about money. Over and over, it's about money. Today's reading (1 Timothy 6) is obviously no exception. We're warned of the dangers of wanting to get rich, told that loving money leads to evil, and that being eager for money tends to lead people away from faith in God. We're commanded to put our hope in God, not money, and to be generous in giving away our money.
When people hear talks about money from their own pastor there can be questions in the back of their mind, "Is he saying this because the church needs money? Is he focusing on this because it helps his salary?"
Well, I'm not your pastor, so let me give it to you straight, and you don't have to wonder about my motives:
- If you live in America, you are rich. If you're living in poverty in America, you are wealthy on the global scale, and that's what God sees. If you live in America, you are rich.
- If you live in America, whether you realize it or not, one of your greatest temptations is wanting to be rich, loving money, and putting your hope in wealth.
- In the Old Testament we're told to give a bare minimum of 10% of our income. In the New Testament we're commanded to give generously. There's no way that God views less than 10% as generous.
- If you live in America, and are therefore rich, giving only 10% just seems really greedy. Honestly, doesn't it? So give 10% (or more) to your church, but then find some other things to give to, to help those who have less than you.
I love to travel. I love to travel with my whole family. I love to travel with just Liz. I've started making a list of places I'd like to visit sometime in my life. Writing them down is like a challenge/goal. Here's a few:
Road trip up the West Coast.
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Virgin Islands
Europe (this could be split into multiple trips)
Grand Canyon
Machu Picchu
New Zealand
An African Safari
That's enough for today. Now if I just had the time and the money to take one month a year for travel... boy is that selfish. :)
I've heard from a number of people lately who are struggling in their marriages. It breaks my heart.
Marriage is hard. I'm not sure why we think it'll be easy, but it's not. And that's ok. Actually, it's good that it's hard.
The goal of marriage isn't happiness. It's oneness. At the core of happiness is selfishness. At the core of oneness is selflessness.
The deceiving thing is that if we pursue happiness we won't find happiness or oneness. But if we pursue oneness, not only will we experience oneness, but we'll be happier.
It's starts with selflessness and serving and putting the other's needs before your own.
I know it's hard, but shut up about it being hard and start serving your spouse.
And here's another thought... maybe your marriage is one of the tools that God's going to use to grow you in holiness instead of bring you happiness. Just a thought....
You can read the sermon transcript from yesterday here. I'd love to have you interact with it.
Rick Warren twittered this today: Focus on being holy not hip, competent not cool, obedient not outrageous, annointed not attractive, praying not posing. I need to remember that.
Today is Frankie Creel's birthday.
For those of you who don't know Frankie, this post will be completely irrelevant to you.
I just found out yesterday that today is Frankie's birthday. Now I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed with Frankie's utter lack of self-serving, "celebrate me," kind of attitude that would have let me know that his birthday was coming up. Personally, I like to give people fair warning so that they have plenty of time to get a really great gift. But Frankie didn't give me any warning, so all he's getting is this "ode" on my blog.
What can I say about Frankie? First, I believe that God brought Frankie and I together at just the right time. Frankie had a desire to plant a church. I was planting a church. He joined up to learn something. I ruined his life. It was perfect timing.
Second, I couldn't do what I do as the pastor of Hub City if it weren't for Frankie. On top of that, Hub City wouldn't be the church that it is if it weren't for Frankie. He's creative, loyal, dependable and a Clemson fan. What more could you ask for?
Third, I don't know how many of you know this, or maybe you know this but it's never really sunk in, but Frankie works full time for Hub City for free. Seriously. And here's what's so incredible about that: Never once has he complained. Never once has he asked for anything. That is evidence of his great character, or that he's just not that smart... one or the other. BTW: I would love for us to eventually be able to pay him... like maybe some live chickens or a goat.
Finally, the thing that I appreciate most about Frankie is that he's my friend. Not many people can say that they get to work with their friends, but I do.
Happy Birthday Frankie. I hope this blog post will suffice for a gift. Maybe you'll remember to give me more warning next year.
This verse always encourages me. What are your thoughts?
FYI: I just posted today's sermon transcript right here.
